Minute. This morning, more than 79,000 people are waking up in the hospital. 10,000 were admitted in the past week. Across the country, some people are again waiting hours to get tested. Look at this line in maryland. And still, even in the face of this growing crisis, the outgoing Trump Administration is prohibiting Health Officials from communicating with president elect biden. Something biden warns could delay Vaccine Distribution by weeks if not months. And what does the defeat t president have to offer to the public about this crisis today . Nothing. Nothing. The president has nothing on his public schedule today. It is the 12th of the past 16 days that he is doing nothing. Folks who have covered the white house for years say they have never seen a stretch like this. So much nothing. To misquote winston churchill, never has so little been done for so many for so long. And thats with the a pandemic that killed nearly 2,000 people a day over the last few weeks. What hes not doing for the public, he is doing for himself. The president is engaged in overt efforts to overturn the results of the election that he lost. This morning, president elect joe biden is leading by more than 5. 8 million votes. Thats a lot. But the president s Campaign Lawyer explicitly says their goal is to overthrow the results and have republican legislatuor to decide the election. Theres a new development out of michigan on that front. Lets go first to cnns jessica dean live in wilmington, delaware, covering the biden transition. And weve learned a handful of current and former Trump Administration officials have actually reached out to the president elects team. Right, john, and that is progress. But the fact remains that key officials and key federal agencies still are not allowed to talk with the biden Transition Team. The health and Human Services secretary, alex azar, saying he will not brief the Transition Team on the coronavirus pandemic until the General Services administration has signed off on that formal transition to begin. This as the biden Transition Team insists these delays could cost lives. President elect joe biden is focusing on the coronavirus response, thanking front line workers battling the virus around the clock for nearly nine months, as conditions worsen. Its not enough to praise you. We have to protect you, we have to pay you. And you deserve leadership that listens to you and that works as hard for you as you do for the families in your communities. Reporter but as President Trump refuses to allow the transition process to begin, biden warns this will only sloefslow efforts to fight the pandemic. I am optimistic, but we should be further along. And theres a whole lot of things that we just dont have available to us. So unless its made available soon, were going to be behind by weeks or months being able to put together the whole initiative. Reporter Trump Administration officials also stalling the transition, with the health and Human Services secretary saying he will not begin working with president elect bidens team until he is officially declared the winner. Weve made it very clear that when gsa makes a determination, we will ensure complete cooperative professional tril transitions and planning. I dont make the rules. We all want to be transparent and transmit Public Health, but its not quite as ominous as you suggested it was. Reporter Health Experts emphasizing that the president s unwillingness to cooperate with biden will only delay plans to distribute a coronavirus vaccine. Its so important that that handoff be done smoothly. Because this is going to be the most complicated Vaccination Program in american history. Reporter trump staying largely silent on the pandemic, but hes spreading baseless claims of widespread voter fraud, as his campaign Presses Forward with legal battles in states that president elect biden won, promoting threadbare challenges to clear election results. This as georgia is expected to release the results of the audit of its recount later today, confirming bidens victory. We have not seen any widespread voter fraud. The president elects team cautions trumps decision not to coordinate with him may ultimately cause more longterm harm in the future. Every transition day thats lost delays our Transition Teams ability to effectively respond and this puts thousands of americans at risk of illness and death and of economic hardship. And this is avoidable suffering. And it should be avoided. Reporter later today, president elect biden and Vice President elect harris will meet with members and governors from the National Governors association about the coronavirus pandemic. We do expect to hear remarks from biden later today, and john, remember, these governors are going to play a key role when it comes to the pandemic, both as biden works to enact a National Mask mandate. Hes going to need cooperation from local governments, but also as they try to coordinate across the states for more streamlined guidance as we move forward with this pandemic. The governors are already playing a crucial role, because the federal government isnt. The governors have had to step in to deal with the situation now. This will be really interesting, this discussion today between the governors, both republicans and democrats and the president elect. Looking forward to see what they have to say. Jessica dean, thank you very much. As of this morning, more than 250,000 americans have died of the coronavirus. Thats by far the most in the world. The United States of america has done worse than anyone in this pandemic. If you want to see the course of deaths over the last few months, 50,000 people had died by april, 100,000 by may, 150,000 by july, 200,000 by september, and as of this morning, you can see, were at 250,548. That number just keeps on rising. Cnns natasha chen live in florida with the very latest. Natasha . Reporter yeah, john, florida just crossed the threshold of 900,000 cases yesterday, the third highest in the nation. Thats not a record anyone wants to have. And like many other states, when you look at floridas trend of sevenday average of new cases, it really looks like a tidal wave. Since the summer surge coming back down a little bit, now spiking back up, this is a state that since late september has lifted capacity restrictions on businesses. So local jurisdictions like Orange County here can ramp up testing, like the site behind me, can have a local mask mandate, but cannot restrict capacity of restaurants, for example, without telling the state what kind of Economic Impact that would have. More than a quarter Million People have died from coronavirus since the pandemic began in the United States. On wednesday, over 1,800 americans lost their lives to the virus. If you were to read all of the names of the people who have died in the United States from coronavirus, it would take about ten days. Thats the magnitude of the loss. Theres growing concern in the northeast, as new cases rise across the region. The countrys Largest School district is closing down today, after new york city saw an average of 3 test positivity over the last seven days. We set a very clear standard, and we need to stick to that standard. And i want to emphasize to parents, to educators, to staff, to kids, that we intend to come back and come back as quickly as possible. In pennsylvania, case numbers are soaring. The case reported approximately 6,400 new cases on wednesday. Growing concern there as over 2,900 patients are currently hospitalized with the virus, the highest number so far in the pandemic. And in new jersey, Governor Phil Murphy has implemented new restrictions on Indoor Dining and outdoor gatherings. Since then, the state has reported more than 4,000 new cases each day for four of the past five days. In wisconsin, the governor announced hes extending his state of emergency order and statewide mask mandate for january, as icu beds in that state are running out. Over the past week, hospitals have reported nine of our icus at 100 capacity. There are zero icu beds available in one rengion of our state. Reporter along with wisconsin announcing new restrictions, minnesota announced it is closing Indoor Dining and gyms and limiting social gatherings. And kentucky is moving the entire state to Online Learning to try to stem the increase in confirmed cases. These states join nearly two dozen other cities and states that have increased restrictions over the past week. Some states are still not taking many important measures, despite rising numbers, including florida, which is starting to see an uptick of cases again after its summer surge. Even though some counties in florida do have mask mandates, theres still no statewide regulation recovering face covers. And in south dakota, governor kristi nome is doubling down on her refusal to mandate masks. Some have said that my refusal to mandate mask is a reason why our cases are rising here in the state of south dakota, and that is not true. Im not in favor of mandating mask wearing. I dont believe that i have the authority to mandate that. Reporter theres no statewide mandate in florida, either. Governor ron desantis has not been seen publicly addressing coronavirus since at least early november. Now, he does on his public schedule today have some phone calls with the ceos of various Health Systems here, but no public address. I asked his press office why that is, compared to the summer surge when he was giving regular press conferences on covid19, they have not gotten back to me yet. Keep on asking, natasha. Maybe youll get an answer eventually. Appreciate you being there and appreciate your reporting. Thank you very much. So alisyn camerota, whats on the president s public schedule today . I assume watching new day. No, public schedule. Oh, not what hes doing right now. Nada. Nothing. Surely he must be doing something. Theres more than a quarter Million People dead from the coronavirus. 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I know that it is life and death. It is life and death, now, that the biden team is being blocked. The idea that we could be behind by months in this country in terms of the distribution of a vaccine. The one thing that everyone is holding on to, the light at the end of the tunnel, and it could be even if it were delayed by days, it would be life and death for some people. And thats where we are. Thats where we are. It is important that i think people remember that while the vaccine is an attractive possibility, right now, the emphasis has to be on the safeguards that are necessary to save lives right now. And its doubly shock that we dont see the commander in chief. He called himself a wartime president in this war against the president , taking no action to help galvanize the country. You know, if you remember back to march and april, alisyn, the president would talk in Public Meetings with the governors of the most severely affected states. He would deploy the navy. He deployed the u. S. Army corps of engineers. They would set up mobile field hospitals where it was needed. All of that Emergency Activity is needed and more right now, as well as putting in place some kind of a plan to bring this to a conclusion with a vaccine some months down the road. The fact that none of these things are happening is shocking and its a dereliction of duty, at the worst possible time. And its a mistake to think that, hey, its only 60 days until this is all over, on january 20th and a new administration is sworn in. Well, those 60 days are the difference between the start of this pandemic and absolutely catastrophe back in march and april. And were set to relive it all over again. Hes not a wartime president , hes a teetime president. As in golf tee. Hes spent more time golfing than speaking to the public. 12 out of the last 16 days, hes had nothing on his public schedule. Nothing. I covered the white house for a year. Ive never seen anything like this. People who have covered it for far longer than i have have never seen a stretch like this. Hes doing aggressively nothing. Like the aggressive absence of power and authority here. And as alisyn says, i mean, hes trying to overthrow the constitution to keep his job. You would think that he would at least want to do it. Yeah, the president has completely checked out. Hes more invested in flexing his twitter fingers and fighting for an election that he already lost than the health and the safety of the American People. And its truly a shame. Its truly a shame. I think that president elect joe biden is being the president right now. And frankly, you know, hes asking for things that are perfectly reasonable. Lets get specific. Hes asking about hospital bed numbers, mask shortages, how deep vaccine stockpiles are, right . So hes not asking for anything. Hes not asking for nuclear codes. He wants to know information to save american lives. And donald trump is more interested in golf and the election of the past rather than the future. And again, it shows what his priorities always were. Errol, i just want to put that graphic up one more time of no Public Events scheduled. No Public Events scheduled. This is the guidance from the white house, okay . It came courtesy of Michael Shearer at the New York Times. The president has no Public Events scheduled. Ditto, ditto, ditto, ditto, ditto, as for a down as the eye can see. And thats just, again, astonishing that he has so washed his hands of trying to deal with this pandemic whatsoever. And of course, as we said, the upshot is that people with all the institutional knowledge, like dr. Fauci, cannot talk to the biden family or feel as though they cannot talk to the biden team without being fired or losing their jobs or in some way getting crosswise with the president. Heres what dr. Fauci had to say about this. There has not been any form of discussions with the biden people on this. That kind of thing makes it easier to just go from one to the other. So, yes, i would wish that we would be able to do that. That would be helpful. And errol, what fauci has said is that he thinks that the biden team doesnt want to compromise him. Theyre not reaching out, because they know that he has had a bullseye on him, so they dont want to put him in that compromised position.