Saturday. It is december 5th. Im christi paul. Good to see you, marty. Its good to see you, too. Good to see all of you. Im Martin Savidge in for victor black well. You are in the cnn newsroom. President trump is rallying in georgia today, a day after the state reported a Record Number of coronavirus cases. The mayor of las ang lis says his city is up against the greatest threat theyve ever faced. On average, over the last week, one american has died from coronavirus every 43 seconds. Cnns alison kosik reports more people died from covid19 in the u. S. This week than anything else, heart disease, lung cancer, or even stroke. Reporter as a brutal second wave strikes, coronavirus becomes the leading cause of death in america. 14,000 deaths have been reported since thanksgiving. In a cnn town hall friday, dr. Anthony fauci said we are headed for a postholiday surge. The event usually is followed by two to three weeks later, you see the increase in cases, which puts it right at the cusp before the christmas holiday, where youre going to have more travel and more congregating. Reporter numbers broke records around the country this week. Johns hopkins reported almost 228,000 cases and more than 2,600 deaths friday alone. Experts warn the worst is coming. What lies ahead for the next few months is actually our worst Case Scenario in terms of overwhelmed hospitals, in terms of the death count. Reporter the university of washingtons institute for Health Metrics and evaluation projects over 260,000 more people could die by spring. The cdc tweeted friday hospitalization rates are at an alltime high, reiterating to the public, wear a mask, wash your hands, avoid crowds. New cdc guidelines also urge postponing travel, and in some circumstances wearing a mask at home. In california, covid cases shatter hospitalization and icu records, hitting a singleday high of more than 22,000 cases, almost 10,000 hospitalized and over 2,200 in icu. Governor gavin newsom imposes emergency measures with a regional shutdown order of five bay area counties, covering more than 5. 8 million people. The order will require bars, theatres and salons to close while retail must operate at 20 capacity. Masks will be mandatory. The bottom line is if we dont act now, our Hospital System will be overwhelmed, if we dont act now well continue to see a death rate climb, more lives lost. Reporter orders go into effect this weekend, statewide orders are expected soon. New hope is on the horizon with pharmaceutical Companies Working to obtain fda approval and states making Vaccine Distribution plans. But the public is urged to take immediate action. If we as a country uniformly do the things that we know can mitigate against spread, those simple things alone, despite the enormity of the problem, can make a difference. Reporter president elect biden said this week he will push major mitigation efforts when taking office. Im going to ask the public for 100 days to mask. Just 100 days to mask. Not forever, 100 days. And i think well see a significant reduction. Reporter and now new york will be using hospitalizations to decide whether areas of the state should remain open or whether they should be closed. Governor andrew cuomo of new york, hes blaming this rise in covid cases on what he calls living room spread. Not the Mass Gatherings that weve heard about during the pandemic. He thinks its because people are gathering in their homes with family and friends and that is what he is saying is causing this latest surge in new york. Martin . Theres potentially more of had ahead as the holidays come around. Thank you very much for that. Millions of americans are holding out on the hope that the new year wont mean a new risk of losing their homes. There are so many people struggling just to pay bills during this pandemic. The cdc order is really their last defense against an eviction and that shield is facing some legal challenges set to expire at the end of the year. Cnns na sha snatasha chin i this for us. Reporter there was one thing abundantly clear, a lack of clarity. They wont know whats to come as far as assistance for the unemployed and with this order expiring, they also dont know what tenant protections there will be in the new year. 2020 has been a year of firsts for victoria giddens. In march, as the pandemic forced much of the economic closed, giddens, who had just accepted a job at the Car Rental Company at the airport, had the offer rescinded. We knew we had a 2yearold to take care of so i was so depressed. Reporter two incomes in january became one by march. Then as she struggled to find work and stay on top of some bills, another first, an eviction notice on her door telling her she had to be out by january 6th. I be stressed every day. I just try not to let it show. Reporter especially not in front of her son. This year was also her First Time Ever asking for Financial Assistance just to pay their past due rent. Where does this put this client if we clear up the past due rent . Reporter we followed to see as the founder of the organization caring for others. During covid19 era, you have seen the rules change so much towards the clients and every day is a fight. Reporter the check for more than 4,400 came from donors she found in the last few days, preventing giddens from being thrown out of her home, at least for now. For shockly, who says her organization has run out of Financial Assistance funds, the issue strikes a raw nerve. I understand what it is to sleep at a Greyhound Bus station on Christmas Eve night in washington, d. C. , when no one would open their doors for me. I was a student and i have to continue helping until the day i die. Reporter but even helping tenants with past due rent wont solve the problem of whats ahead. The centers for Disease Control and prevention issued a temporary order to halt evictions nationwide, but that expires at the end of the month. So Georgia Legal Services says housing attorneys are bracing for the first monday in january. I think every Legal Services housing attorney in georgia has that date circled in red, because that is the day that the courts will open and landlords can go in and begin filing. Reporter the cdc would not answer our question about whether the order would be extended, citing ongoing litigation. And anything a new Administration May do wont happen until president elect Biden Takes Office in late january. I asked her what tenant protections there are in the meantime. I have no good answer for you or for my clients who call with those issues, and it is a painful position to be in as a lawyer. Reporter reef told me she compares this to the foreclosure crisis in that this time around, she says, there is far more adverse impact on low income folks and people of color compared to the foreclosure crisis that affected more people of all incomes. And in that case, foreclosures often take months to complete that process, and this time around evicting tenants can happen in days and weeks, a much faster and urgent problem. Natasha chen, thank you so much. Appreciate it. And later this hour, what lessons have we learned about the coronavirus in schools . Were asking president obamas former education secretary, ernie duncan, and were going to get his reaction to the push to keep schools open in places like new york, lets say. The impact of Remote Learning on vulnerable students, i know you all have stories. We have that and much more with ernie duncan in just a bit. Hours from now, President Trump is heading to georgia to campaign for two republican senators. Exactly one month from today senators Kelly Loeffler and david perdue are facing off against democratic opponents Raphael Warnock and john osoff. The president s trip is worrying some republicans. They fear he could do more harm than good. Some conservatives say they dont even want to vote. Cnns Sarah Westwood is at the white house for us, and the president s rally will be i believe its his first since he lost the election. What do we expect to hear from him today . Reporter martin, its a big moment for President Trump today. Hes had very few public appearances since his defeat and this is his First Political event, his first rally. Its a setting in which he tends to go off script and tends to stray from the message, which is one of many concerns for georgia republicans today. They want to hear President Trump focus on senators perdue and loeffler, they want to hear him promoting them in the runoff, and they dont want to hear any more of these baseless claims of election fraud. There are growing concerns among republican officials that the president is actually working against them in georgia by convincing some of the voters they will need to turn out on january 5th for this runoff, that their ballots may not be handled securely. In fact, trump has been attacking the georgia governor, the georgia secretary of state, the very same people who will be overseeing this next election, and so there are Major Concerns that the president has some very counterproductive rhetoric heading into his appearance today. Meanwhile, he is still refusing to acknowledge the results of the election, still refusing to concede the race, even as those around him are starting to acknowledge that there will be a democrat in the white house come january. Vice president mike pence was campaigning to georgia yet for those two senators and he described them as potentially the last line of defense for republicans, a potential acknowledgment that trump may not be here next year. And we need to send them back because the Republican Senate majority could be the last line of defense, preserving all that weve done to defend this nation, revive our economy, and preserve the godgiven liberties we hold dear. Reporter most members of the president s cabinet have not acknowledged that they will be out of a job come january, but we did hear something of an acknowledgment yesterday from cdc director dr. Robert redfield, speaking also in georgia, saying that he may not be at the cdc next year. They will continue to guide our nations response to the pandemic after were gone. Reporter now, the president s visit comes against the backdrop of rising coronavirus cases in georgia. In fact, the states largest newspaper this morning ran with a headline pointing to the recordbreaking surge of covid infections in georgia. The president convening a large inperson gathering against that backdrop. Good to see you, thank you. Former president barack obama has been campaigning for jon ossoff and Raphael Warnock in georgia. We now know president elect joe biden plans to campaign as well. Cnn political reporter rebecca buck is following the story. Reporter good morning. Well, the full court press is in progress from democrats when it comes to the Georgia Senate races, ballots being cast one month from now in those races. And this reflects the importance of these races not only to the Senate Balance of power as weve all discussed, but really what that means practically is will president elect biden be able to enact any of his agenda over the next two years. And so thats whats at stake here. Thats why were seeing president obama this week coming out doing a virtual rally for Raphael Warnock and jon ossoff, the two democrats running in georgia. And obama laid out the stakes here in this race. I want you to take a listen to what he had to say. The special election in georgia is going to determine ultimately the course of the biden presidency. You are now, once again, the center of our civic universe because the special election in georgia is going to determine ultimately the course of the biden presidency and whether joe biden and Kamala Harris can deliver legislatively all the commitments theyve made. Reporter and that appearance by president obama in the context of this race, campaigning for the democrats who are going on be on the ballot, is of course about getting democratic voters or people who might be on the fence, but vote for democrats, ultimately to the polls in this very unusual election. When it comes to an election like this, a runoff election, its all about turnout. Usually voters are maybe not aware that its happening. Its not like a general election. It doesnt get the same amount of attention, necessarily. So its all about reminding people to vote and reminding them of what is at stake in this election. One of the Big Questions for democrats, though, we heard a little bit from sarah about the challenges for republicans when it comes to turnout. But for democrats, georgia is still a state where republicans have historically an advantage. Even though joe biden was able to win in november at the president ial level, he was the first democrat to do so since 1992. This is a state where republicans are very much entrenched, have an advantage. So for democrats, its really about trying to make Lightning Strike twice in this election, how can they get the same electorate out to vote. And another key question, how can they persuade some of these suburban voters who supported joe biden in november, some of them as a vote against donald trump, how can they convince them that this race is also important for them to vote in with neither joe biden or donald trump on the ballot. So the message from democrats is essentially joe biden is on the ballot, its his agenda at stake. Thats why youre seeing obama involved in this race. Thats why joe biden has announced his plans to go down to georgia at some point in the next month and campaign. So well be watching for that development. We dont have a date yet on his plan to campaign in georgia, but it will be, of course, sometime in the next month. Rebecca buck, thank you very much for that. Appreciate it. Still ahead, it only has to be a piece of fabric, but it could be the thing that saves someones life. Were speaking to an Infectious Disease expert to talk about how to stay safe even with a Covid Vaccine that is on the way. 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