Administrations refusal to aid his transition and the impact it could have as the nation battles the pandemic. Breaking overnight, catastrophic. Hurricane iota tears across nicaragua as a powerful category 4, ripping roofs off buildings, toppling trees and causing widespread flooding. Just ahead, the damage and where this dangerous storm is headed next. Home away from home. Dragon spacex, capture confirmed. Overnight four astronauts arrive safely for their sixmonth stay on the International Space station, leading to cheers on the ground welcome to the iss. And hugs high above. All that, plus big demand for small turkeys. The holiday dilemma facing millions of families downsizing their gatherings this year. And rokers recovery. Al joins us live for the First Time Since his cancer surgery with some very good news to share. Today, tuesday, november 17th, 2020. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with Savannah Guthrie and hoda kotb, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Hey, guys, welcome to today. Its a tuesday morning, and boy is it a good tuesday morning. Didnt you love hearing that . The sunshine is already out, al roker good news. Hes going to be with us a little later on. Well talk to him and his doctor about his recovery. Look, here he is walking five miles around central park even after surgery. Thats our al. Thats our al. Cannot wait to speak with al. We are going to start with new restrictions being implemented to try to stop that alarming spread of covid cases. Theyre happening from coast to coast. In california where cases have doubled in just ten days, the governor there pulled the emergency brake on reopening. In cities like los angeles that means indoor settings like dining rooms, gyms and movie theaters must now close to the public. In iowa, a new mask mandate takes effect today, while in chicago, a sweeping stayathome advisory. Residents urged to only leave their home for work, for school and for essential needs. And in philadelphia, there are new limits on restaurants and gyms, including a ban on indoor dining. We have complete coverage on all of this. Well start with nbcs sam brock whos in miami where those rollbacks are happening all across america. Hey, sam. Reporter hoda, savannah, good morning. Mayors and governors dropping the hammer on restrictions they hope will save lives. The president elect is urging a smooth transition to prevent more fatalities. The Testing Center behind me will be opening in a little while. Well see long lines here and all over the u. S. As infection rates are rising, in some places dramatically. Communities across the country besieged by covid this morning are moving backwards. More than a dozen states watching deaths from the virus climb 75 in two weeks. This as the president elect warns conditions will only get worse without a peaceful transfer. More people may die if we dont coordinate. If we have to wait until january 20th to start that planning, it puts us behind, over a month, month and a half. Reporter on the state level, leaders trying to pick up the slack. It actually took my breath away. We are in the midst of the worst weeks of this pandemic. Reporter michigans governor clamping down on bars, restaurants and everyday life, as california moves almost every county into its highest risk tier. This is simply the fastest increase california has seen. Reporter new mexico and oregon have launched multiweek shutdowns or freezes, which some have openly defied. One local oregon commissioner posting my family will celebrate thanksgiving with as many family and friends as i can find. Governor brown is wrong to order otherwise. That declaration leveled against a portrait of pain. In el paso, volunteer inmates carry bodies to mobile morgues, and new numbers reveal more than a million kids have already been infected. Weve never seen this kind of Community Spread of a disease in children since before we had vaccines for things like measles and polio. Reporter families young and old. Im sorry. Reporter heaving in heartache. Evonia and emily lost their father to covid in florida where restrictions are few and far between. Be grateful that you have not been touched by this monster of covid. One day we will go back to a normal life but those people who have been affected will never go back to a normal life. Reporter and as many families grieve right now, others just want to know where their loved ones can go for care. According to the covid tracking project, the number of hospitalizations for covid19 is now at 73,000. That is markedly higher than it was record levels at the end of last week, pushing hospitals and Health Care Systems right now to the brink. Hoda, back to you. Sam brock for us in miami. Sam, thank you. Thats the bad news. Lets get to some good news on the vaccine front after moderna announced its vaccine candidate is nearly 95 effective. The question on everybodys minds now is how long will it take for it to get to the public . Nbc National CorrespondentMiguel Almaguer has that part of the story. Miguel, good morning. Reporter savannah, good morning. The cdc Advisory Team is getting together to make determinations about the vaccine. Officials say the virus numbers are exploding all across the nation, but finally, some good signs of hope. This morning, two vaccines ahead of schedule and more effective than scientists ever thought they would be. Moderna and pfizer could roll out 70 million doses worldwide in the coming weeks. These are early days. This is about as good as one could hope to see. Reporter both vaccines require two doses. Here in the u. S. Officials say a little more than 20 Million People could get their first shot before the end of the year. Heres what we know so far. While states will decide how to roll out the vaccine, the National Academy of medicine makes these recommendations. Phase 1a includes highrisk americans Like Health Care workers and first responders, and theres currently not enough doses for them. Phase 1b covers those with underlying medical conditions and seniors living in Group Settings like nursing homes. Phase 2 covers critical workers like those in the food supply system, teachers, and those over 65. Phase three includes most young adults and children. Phase four protects everyone else. Both vaccines need fda emergency authorization. Details and dates remain unclear. Modernas vaccine, for example, was not tested on children. Questions also remain over vaccinating pregnant women and infants. This morning what could be americas best shot at a return to life as we once knew it. The u. S. Government hopes to distribute the vaccine free of charge to americans across the country. They may be able to get them at drug stores, savannah. Thank you. Lets bring in the dean at Brown University school of Public Health. Good morning. I do want to talk to you about this good news on the vaccine front. Unfortunately, we are seeing from coast to coast a lot of states having to go backwards, implement some of these lockdown measures. Were not seeing and i dont think we will see this national one size fits all lockdown, but are states doing the right thing right now . Good morning, and thank you for having me on. Some states are. I was really pleased to see the governor of michigan lay out what i thought was a very sensible plan. I think california is moving in the right direction. You dont need a national lockdown. What you need is targeted focused efforts on the things that we know really are spreading the disease. And its good to see some states doing it and i wish other states would follow suit quickly. Waiting is not a good strategy at this point. Everybody needs to move fast. Theres this feeling of helplessness because every single day the numbers just get worse. I mean, the Positivity Rate is going up, hospitalizations are going up, the deaths are going up. And it just feels like this forest fire thats raging out of control. Is it just masks, thats it . Masks and social distancing, thats all we can do . Yeah, so first of all, we should not find ourselves in this position. Like were ten months into this pandemic. Everybody knew this was coming. Again, our federal government just didnt prepare in the last couple of months. It has decided to completely check out and thats why the whole country is aflame. Certainly masks are going to help. Certainly avoiding indoor gatherings, including, unfortunately, larger family gatherings at thanksgiving and the holidays. And then i still think theres a lot more we can be doing on testing. The testing system is getting strained. Weve got to make that better for people so we can figure out who is infected and who is not. Can we just talk for a moment and get to brass tacks on thanksgiving. Public Health Experts are saying dont do thanksgiving with your extended family, stay in your own household. And anecdotally i know a lot of families that are like well just have grandma and grandpa, brother and sister, well get tested, we can make it okay. Is that right . Can you make it okay . What is your fear about whats going to happen after thanksgiving if a lot wellmeaning goodhearted people think ill just tweak at the edges, i wont be irresponsible, im just going to tweak at the edges a little bit look, i totally understand the sentiment and thanksgiving is a holiday that we tend to, our family really enjoys and we tend to have an extended family gathering. Were not doing it this year because i dont know how to tweak it enough to make it safe. And my elderly parents, for instance, who i usually see on thanksgiving, were not going to see them because i want them around in 2021 and i cant figure out how to make it safe for them and for our family so i just think at this point were so close to a vaccine rollout, this is not the time to start making bad choices. Lets talk about the vaccines they do look really, really promising. Both of them over90 effective, at least in this early data, what is the implication of that, that kind of success in a vaccine . First of all, it is terrific news its better than i was expecting and i love to be wrong in this direction when it turns out even better than i was expecting. What it means is that once vaccines are widely rolled out, late winter, early spring, it will make a dramatic difference on this pandemic look, it wont completely go away, but it will be so much better than it is now that well be able to get much of our lives back. Weve just got to hang on thank you very much. We really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you earlier we heard president elect biden warning about his ability to manage the pandemic, given the Trump Administrations refusal to help the transition of power. So how is he handling those road blocks nbc White House CorrespondentKristen Welker has the latest. Good morning. Hoda, good morning to you president elect joe biden will put the focus on National Security today hes going to meet with diplomatic and defense experts it comes as the Trump Administration still refuses to acknowledge biden as president elect, depriving him of critical briefings. So his moves today aimt turning up the pressure on President Trump to concede the election and move on president elect joe biden is venting his frustration with President Trumps refusal to concede the election, depriving him of Critical Resources and briefings, including on covid19 i find this more embarrassing for the country than debilitating for my ability to get started. Reporter it follows President Trumps comments over the weekend, tweeting that biden won the election, then trying to walk that back the president elect trying to increase pressure on congressional republicans, who have not yet urged the president to concede i will work with you. I understand a lot of your reluctance because of the way the president operates if it has to wait until january 20th to get actually become operational, thats a shame, but maybe thats the only way to get it done. Reporter still, there are new cracks emerging in the president s wall of support. With his own National Security advisor, robert obrien, acknowledging biden as the winner in remarks made last week and released monday. Look, if the biden harris ticket is determined to be the winner, and obviously things look that way now, well have a very professional transition from the National Security council. Reporter it all comes amid stunning allegations by georgias republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger who told the Washington Post he had been pressured by fellow republicans, including South Carolina senator lindsey graham, to question the validity of absentee ballots he said its all in an effort to reverse President Trumps loss in georgia he said he and his family are even getting Death Threats over it on monday nbc news asked him why hes calling out members of his own party. Well, when people are out there making boldfaced lies you just have to call it out with facts. Reporter graham has denied that he applied pressure to georgias secretary of state. I wanted to find out how you verify mailin ballots in the future and that was the extent of the conversation reporter now for his part president elect biden is expected to make some key staffing announcements today, including congressman cedric richmond, who is expected to play a key advisory role inside the west wing. All right, kristen. I know youve got some reporting this morning about how president elect biden is looking at his administration and possible investigations into President Trump. What have you learned . Reporter thats right, savannah well, despite some pressure from democrats, we are told according to five people familiar with the matter that president elect biden does not want his administration to be consumed by investigations into President Trump, into his predecessor. Having said that, were also told it is critical for biden to strike a tone that his department of justice is going to be independent from his white house, so dont expect him to weigh in or to push federal investigators into investigating someone or not investigating someone. Savannah. Kristen, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Meantime, savannah, this morning did you feel a chill in the air . Its happening it is happening. Fall is heading our way. Dylan is in for al this morning. Hey, dylan. We made it pretty far without really cold temperatures but you are going to feel it the next couple of days today high temperatures in detroit stuck in the 30s chicago 41 degrees minneapolis 35 so were a little bit below average, but watch what happens tomorrow morning thats when temperatures are going to be really, really cold and windy too. Boston will feel like 20 new york city, it feels like 20. Remember these numbers 28 is what your windchill will be in washington, d. C. Cleveland will feel like 24. Even raleigh will feel like 31 degrees. High temperatures during the afternoon because of the winds will still feel like were in the 20s in the northeast it will only feel like 4 in saranac lake, 19 in scranton as we go through friday into saturday and sunday, well notice temperatures warm up a bit. So we had a cold front thats trying to move through were seeing northwest wind produce lakeeffect snow off lake ontario and lake erie heres the warmer air, the 60s that will get to the east coast eventually, it just takes to the weekend to get here. If youre missing the warm temperatures, in the southwest we could see some record highs thats a look across the country, well get to your local forecast in the next 30 seconds. And how she sets aside those pieces she knows are so you. The small details are a big reason to come back and shop your favorite Small Businesses. We know them. We love them. So lets go shop small. With american express. Good morning. Im meteorologist kari hall. We are waiting for some rain that will be spreading across the bay area for today, muchneeded showers, first approaching the north bay as well as some very Cool Temperatures and some gusty winds. We are seeing some rain moving into ukiah. Well be tracking that on storm ranger today. As we go through the forecast off and on rain today that will continue into early tomorrow. Then the rest of the forecast is cool and dry with high temperatures reaching into the 60s. And thats your latest forecast back to you guys. Dylan, you look so cute today. You are adorable. Thank you we cant handle you. We cant handle your cuteness. Coming up, we are going to focus on your familys thanksgiving plans, including how colleges are handling the upcoming break some schools telling kids to go home and stay home others urging them to stay on campus. Plus what you can do if the covid surge has you rethinking your travel plans. Tom costello will walk us through the options if youve already booked your flights and your hotels, you may need to cancel give you my world how can i, when you wont take it from me you can go your own way xfinity mobiles fast nationwide 5g network meets the first iphone with 5g. Get the new iphone 12 on xfinity mobile. And right now get 250 off. Learn more at an xfinity store today. Coming up, a face we cant wait to see. Our beloved al is going to join us for the First Time Since his surgery. Hell have an update on his recovery its good news and his doctor is going to answer some questions that everybody really needs to know about Prostate Cancer, and that is the reason why al has shared his journey publicly, so well do that. First, lets get a check of your local news and weather i joined amazon because i wanted to change education and i am impatient. Amazon gives me the resources to change the world at a pace that i want to change it.