First time in decades. Well talk to cindy mccain about his achievement and her role in the biden Transition Team. Plus y more republicans are side with the president elect on a matter of national security. And the dawn of a new era in space travel. Well have an inside look at a Landmark Mission for four astronauts launching this weekend. But first, heres todays eye opener. Its your world in 90 seconds. Were running out of time and were running out of options. Weve gone through hell. Keep going. This is literally a matter of life and death. The u. S. Sinks deeper into the coronavirus pandemic. The country isnt just breaking records. Its blowing through them. Wearing the mask, they think its uncomfortable and annoying. You know whats really uncomfortable and annoying . When you die. Republican senators are calling on the administration to give biden Intelligence Briefings. Theres no legal basis. Hes getting support from members of the Republican Party who are not challenging him. And thats been disappointing. They, obviously, didnt think there was any fraud going on because they didnt say anything about it for the first two days. Extreme flooding in North Carolina has turned fatal after record rainfall caused by Tropical Storm eta. The water was so swift. Just couldnt get away from it. Joe biden has officially been projected to win the state of arizona. Pushing him further past the 270 threshold. All that a golf course looked like a scene from jurassic park. Look at this giant alligator. This is 2020. Could be a dinosaur. The first regional hub for flying cars is being built in orlando. How long do you think it will be before someone is texting behind the wheel and flies into the epcot center . I guess well find out. On cbs this morning. According to another new report, not only will trump run for president again in 2024, he may announce it before the end of the year. I mean, the guy is 74. For petes sake, by 2024, hell be 78, which is exactly the right age for a president. Just a number, joe. You go get them, buddy. Drink that ensure. This mornings eye opener is presented by progressive. Making it easy to bundle insurance. Ive heard ensure comes in many flavors . Ive only seen chocolate and vanilla. Four years is a long time. A lot could change. Welcome to cbs this morning. All right. We begin with recordbreaking new numbers on the coronavirus that take this crisis into uncharted territory. Yesterday the u. S. Added more than 150,000 daily cases for the first time according to the covid tracking project. 1 in every 378 americans tested positive for the virus in the past week. And in the past month, the number of people hospitalized with the virus in the u. S. Has nearly doubled. Doctors and nurses are reporting shortages of essential protective equipment, some hospitals are also running out of beds and staff to treat Covid Patients. Our lead National CorrespondentDavid Begnaud is at a testing site in suburban chicago as state and local leaders there consider new restrictions. Good morning to you. Is chicago headed for a new lockdown . Well, look, we dont know that just yet. The mayor declared a stayathome advisory for now. Doesnt have a lot of teeth to it in terms of enforcement. The governor of illinois is saying i may come back at you very soon with a stayathome order. Here at the testing site theyve already lined up. Theyll open at 7 00 a. M. Theyve been closing early because theyre running out of tests. And a lot of labs are telling testing sites, hey, listen, dont go over what we agreed to because were going to start getting backed up and we may have delays in testing like we had earlier on in the pandemic. I mentioned the governor of illinois. Its really the governors that are stepping up to the plate right now. Especially here in the midwest. A lot of them are saying, when i come back to you, youre not going to like what i have to say. With cases and hospitalizations rising, chicago is telling its residents to stay inside. Do not have guests over. Avoid unnecessary travel. And cancel your traditional thanksgiving plans. Reporter dr. Benjamin singer at Northwestern Memorial Hospital says the number of hospitalizations in chicago is fast approaching levels they havent seen since the worst days back in april. The pandemic is real. Its deadly. And we need strong cooperation within our communities. Reporter chicago, the nations Third Largest city, is among the first to announce a stayathome advisory. And it probably wont be the last. In states across america, governors from both parties are sounding the alarm. Given the silence from the white house. Listen to what theyre saying. The curve that we have flattened, right now, this curve is a Straight Line and it is straight up. We cant keep expecting the hospitals to meet the demand. Were running out of time. And were running out of options. Limit your social gatherings to just those of your immediate household. To the west now, california is the second state to record more than 1 million coronavirus cases. In utah, all of that states staffed icu beds are now full. So the governor has called nearly 200 traveling nurses. And in north dakota, they have just nine icu beds left statewide. One in every 83 residents tested positive this week. The system is so strained that the states republican governor issued an order clearing nurses who are infected with the virus to continue working with Covid Patients as long as those nurses are asymptomatic. But the Nurses Association says they are asking the governor to implement a mask mandate first. But he just wont do it. And the numbers are much, much worse than weve ever seen before. Thats dr. Ashish jha. She says with vaccines on the horizon, there is an end to this pandemic, and its in sight, but the worst is far from over for us. I understand the fatigue, but people really do have to pull it together. Were not talking about forever. Were just saying for the next couple of months. Those are the critical months. We hear you, doctor, loud and clear. He told us at the end of the interview that california and new york, for the most part, are keeping things under control. He pointed to them as models for other states to follow. As we continue on in this pandemic. Gayle . David, thank you. Dr. Anthony fauci is the director of the National Institute of allergy and infectious diseases. Also a member of president Trumps Coronavirus Task force. Good morning to you, dr. Fauci. Its very good to see you. Weve just done a piece where good morning, gayle. Good to be with you. Im so glad youre here. We all know the cases are climbing, things are getting out of control, and people are very afraid. Why is this happening again right now . You predicted it, though, earlier. You know, unfortunately, i did, gayle. There are a number of factors feeding into this. Our base line of infections all along has never gone down to a level that would allow you to be easily controllable when you get cases that soar up for a variety of reasons. Right now, as we end the cool season of the fall and soon to enter the cold season of the winter, that makes it very problematic because people out of necessity will be congregating indoors more than outdoors. This is a particular issue as were approaching the Holiday Season of thanksgiving. Ive heard you say the calvary is coming but it doesnt mean you put down your weapons. People are letting their guards down. You know, its understandable. I dont want to be critical of that, but we want to just plead with them to understand the dynamics of this outbreak. If you do that, well continue to soar. If we do the things that are simple Public Health measures, that soaring will level and start to come down. You add that to the help of a vaccine, we can turn this around. It is not futile. Dr. Jha has told us the testing we need in this country is far below what it needs to be. Do you agree with that, and what does that mean exactly . Well, i think what dr. Jha was saying is what many of us have been saying is that there is Community Spread right now. Which means that there are people in society who are infecting others. They dont have symptoms. They dont know theyre infected. The only way you can get at them is if you only test people who are symptomatic. You are going to miss the asymptomatic people who are silently spreading the outbreak. So we need to pull more testing into the community to get a feel and identify who in the community is spreading the infection because it isnt only a symptomatic person. I want to talk to you briefly about thanksgiving. Im changing my plans after listening to you. You are saying youre not even going to respond thanksgiving with your lovely daughters. You are keeping your thanksgiving celebration very small. If you are with a small group of people, do you need to wear a mask indoors . Somebody told me that even if youre in your house, you have to wear a mask. Is that true . You know, yes, it is true. Now, obviously, its kind of difficult to be eating and drinking at a dinner with a mask on. You cant do that. But to the extent that you can keep that mask on, i mean, nothing is going to be perfect in this. But if you are indoors and gathering with people, even if its a relatively small group, to the extent possible, keep the mask on, even if you are indoors. Now, obviously, the even if weve all tested even if weve all tested negative, dr. Fauci . Well, thats a different thing. I mean, then the risk goes way down. And then you make a risk assessment. You know, we always talk about things. Nothing is riskfree. But when you do a risk benefit ratio and say to yourself now, i just got tested. My husband or wife just got tested. Our children are coming in. They just got tested. Of course, its not 100 that they could have gotten infected from the time they got tested to the time they got there, but when you get that degree of minimization of risk, then you really use some common sense and say im willing to take that very, very small risk so i dont have to be Walking Around the house with a mask. People who say wearing a mask indoors, they are really talking about when you get into a setting where you really are unsure what the status of people are. But when families go the extra mile of either quarantining or getting tested, then i dont think you really have to say every moment youre in the house you have to have a risk. You have to use some common sense and make sure you look at what relative risks are because the relative risk is going to go way down if everyone has been tested or people have been quarantined. So its just really common sense in that regard. And before you go, i want to know how youre doing. You get death threats. You work 24 7. There are issues with the white house. I am wondering how youre holding up through all of this. I know its your job. I get it. But i want to know how youre holding up physically and mentally. Well, thank you for asking. Im actually doing fine. And the reason im doing fine is twofold. I have taught myself over the years to focus like a laser on what my goal is and what i need to do. And to me, thats a big thing. Its the health and safety and welfare of the American People. That driving force makes all that other stuff that youre talking about become peripheral noise that i dont Pay Attention to. And the other thing, i have a spectacular wife who is amazingly supportive of me and has been now for the last 36plus years. So im doing fine, but thank you for asking. We thank you, dr. Fauci. Thank you for taking the time today. Thank you. This morning, cbs news has projected, based on the hard count in the state of arizona, that president elect joe biden has won arizona. Mr. Biden now has 290 electoral votes and the popular vote count shows him ahead by more than 5 million. The Trump Campaign is still challenging the vote count in the closest states but the federal agency in charge of protecting Election Security released a statement saying, quote, there is no evidence that any Voting System deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised. The head of that agency has told associates he expects the president to fire him. According to reuters and politico. Paula reid is at the white house. Good morning. Good morning. Anthony, several advisers to President Trump tell cbs news the president is increasingly aware that he just cannot litigate his way to 270 electoral votes. But they also tell us the president wants to be seen as a fighter so he can continue to fundraise and pay down campaign debts. Now last night, the president elect, joe bidens new chief of staff, he did an interview where he laid out the risks of continuing to delay this transition. In his first interview since being named president elect joe bidens chief of staff, ron klain warned the trump administrations refusal to cooperate in the transfer of power will soon begin to have real impacts. Were in a covid crisis. Right now, right now there are officials inside the department of health and Human Services who are busy planning a Vaccination Campaign for the months of february and march when joe biden will be president. And so the sooner we can get our transition experts into meetings with the folks who are planning the Vaccination Campaign, the more seamless the transition from a biden presidency to a Trump Presidency can be. But like his boss, klain was optimistic about being able to work with the republicans. Spoken to some republican senators, some republican governors. Im not going to go into the names. He has not spoken though to senator mcconnell. Theyll have a working relationship when the time comes. Reporter President Trumps refusal to concede is, among other things, blocking president elect biden from getting access to classified Intelligence Briefings during the transition period. Klain said he was encouraged by the growing number of republicans who say that biden should at least get that access. Including the president s allies like Lindsey Graham and ted cruz. For the sake of protecting the country, you want whoever is going to assume that office to be aware of the significant threats because the first responsibility of any president is to keep the American People safe. Some republicans say the briefings should wait until all the votes are counted or recounted. Lets finish counting the votes. There will be plenty of time. Hes not president right now. Dont know if hell be president january 20th. But whoever is, will get the information. Reporter this morning, china reached out to president elect joe biden to congratulate him. Becoming the most recent world power to do so. But its nearly been a week since the results were called. And notably russia has not reached out to the incoming president. Historically foreign leaders have waited for the loser to concede before reaching out to the new president , but as weve seen, President Trump at this point appears to have no plans to admit defeat. Gayle . Paula, thank you. Former president barack obama is speaking to cbs news in his firstv interview since the 2020 election. Hes about to release his longawaited memoir called a promised land. Scott pelley interviewed him for 60 minutes and we got to sit down with him for cbs sunday morning. He reflected on the start of his administration and how his experience was very different from the transition that President Trump is blocking right now. When donald trump won, i stayed up until 2 30 in the morning and i then called donald trump to congratulate him. His margin of victory over Hillary Clinton wasnt greater than joe bidens margin over him. Yeah. But if you were listening to some of the talk radio that trump voters are listening to, if youre watching fox news, getting these tweets, those allegations are presented as facts. So youve got millions of people out there who think, oh, yeah, they must be cheating because the president said so. I think about john mccain calling. George and laura bush welcoming you and Michelle Obama to the white house. Could not have been more gracious. I remember you inviting donald trump to the white house. Ill never forget it because you said, i wish that you succeed because we want the country to succeed. What is at stake here . Well, look, joe biden will be the next president of the united states. Kamala harris will be the next Vice President. Theres no legal basis. Theres no hes getting support from members of the Republican Party who are not challenging him. And that has been disappointing. They, obviously, didnt think there was any fraud going on because they didnt say anything about it for the first two days. But theres damage to this. Because what happens is that the peaceful transfer of power, the notion that any of us who attain an elected office, whether its dog catcher or president , are servants of the people. Its a temporary job. Were not above the rules. Were not of about the law. Thats the essence of our democracy. And you can see more of our conversation this sunday on cbs sunday morning and Scott Pelleys interview with former president obama sunday night on 60 minutes. So i think cbs got a onetwo punch. Were very grateful for that. We were at the National Portrait gallery which is a very interesting setting. You have the portrait of president obama and the portrait of Michelle Obama. And the book, as ive mentioned a couple of times, is over 700 pages. So theres a lot of information to cover.