Coronavirus variant. The white house this morning discussing requiring travelers from the United Kingdom to present proof of a negative coronavirus test before arriving in the United States. Dozens of other countries have banned or restricted travel from the uk. This is what dr. It Anthony Fauci said about this just moments ago. Travel bans are really rather draconian things to do. Thats not really in the cards right now, but i wouldnt be surprised if the requirement of testing is something that is being actively considered right now. This morning hospitals are overwhelmed in the United States. More than 150,000 people now hospitalized, that is a record high. Meantime, there is growing anxiety at the pentagon over what President Trump will do next as he continues his push to overturn the election. Attorney Sidney Powell who of course was dumped from trumps legal team after pushing conspiracy theories, one after another, is spotted at the white house again on monday. If you are keeping track this is the third time she has been there in four days. A group of house conservatives also meeting with President Trump and Vice President pence on monday to strategize about overturning the will of the voters. Were going to start with the pandemic. Joining me is michael osterholm, president elect bidens Coronavirus Task force adviser and the director of the center for Infectious Disease research at the university of minnesota. Thanks so much for being with us. Thank you, john. This new variant or newish variant emerging in the United Kingdom, what are the biggest questions you have with this in the areas of biggest concern . Well, first of all, the good news is that the uk government has really gotten on top of this issue, theyve been sharing very openly information about this with the rest of the world and i congratulate them for that. Unfortunately this is a real challenge to us in terms of several things, number one, does this virus really transmit that much more easily than other virus strains within the coronavirus family. And right now it appears that it does. Which, of course, if that means that the virus spreads around the world, all these places we already have major challenges with transmission are only going to see the problem worsen. The second thing of course we have to understand does it have an impact on the vaccines . We sure hope it doesnt. The sense is it probably does not, but hope is not a strategy. We need the data to say does it really have an impact on the vaccines. Then we have to understand our testing approaching. There may be some challenges to how well some of our current tests will work against this very strain. One of the questions we have asked repeatedly is is it here already . Is it in the United States already . And the cdc posted some information that just came to light overnight, it says the uk coronavirus variant has not been identified through sequencing efforts in the United States, but only about 51,000 of 17 million u. S. Cases have been sequenced so far. So less than one half of 1 there. How much do we know or how could we know whether its here . The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence as you just noted and i think thats the challenge. The u. S. s program for sequencing these virus strains has actually been far under what we need. We need much better testing right now. The second thing s remember, this has all emerged within the last couple of weeks. So the testing of only the strains reason in the last two to three weeks have probably given us the idea of how much of this has come in from the uk or from anywhere else. Lets be really clear right now. Nothing will stop this virus from transmitting country to country. Our job is to slow it down. Right now as you know our hospitals are overwhelmed in many locations. Imagine adding on 20 or 30 increased caseloads on top of what we already are experiencing because we have a virus that transmits much more easily. We really need to develop a National Response and we are looking forward to the cdc and the white house giving us all in Public Health an update on what are they going to do about this. How are they going to respond . What can we do to slow down transmission in the United States. This variant or the variant from south africa or wherever these new variant viruses show up. So slow it down. The question, then, is how . Right . And you heard dr. Fauci say that a travel ban isnt where he is at least. He thinks thats draconian right now. There is the option of trying to pretest people, require a negative test for people coming to the United States. Jay inslee governor of Washington State is requiring a 14 day quarantine for people coming in from the United Kingdom. Which measures do you think are appropriate . I think everything has to be on the table right now. Again, i dont represent what the Biden Harris Transition Team is going to make a decision on, but i will say that the Current Administration needs to come up with a plan right now for what theyre going to do. Its absolutely true, travel bans do not stop viruses from still crossing political borders but they can slow down the transmission. What were trying to do is buy time to what i would call flatten the curve. We dont want a large bolus of cases over the next three to eight weeks from this strain. What can we do to slow it down . Testing one time before you come into the country is a snapshot at that moment. As we tell people right here in the United States when they travel, one test does not mean you are negative. So even that is inadequate. Really the only thing is to do a 14day quarantine once someone arrives here from one of these countries. The challenge with that, who is going to do it. Right now our local and state Public Health departments are overwhelmed just doing what theyre trying to do and of course we want them to concentrate on vaccination programs right now. I dont see who within the federal, state or local governments right now have that bandwidth to do the kind of quarantine that we would need. We have to put all these options on the table, none of them are going to be easy, none of them are going to be absolutely the perfect answer, but this new development of variants with this virus is a very, very critical point in our response to this entire pandemic. I have to tell you you say the same thing that dr. Hotez tells us earlier to the cdc and administration, just tell us something. Give us a plan here. We need an announcement today on this. Cant wait any longer. Professor osterholm, i want to show you a statistic which i know you probably wont like which is the number of people who have been traveling over the last few days. We have hit a Million People three out of the last five days in the airways and i know youve been asking people to really stay close to home, stay with your Nuclear Family over christmas. With the virus spreading, with the cases where they are and hospitalizations, is doing today the same thing that you would have done three weeks ago as safe . Or how does it change what is safe in your activities . Well, when the virus level in the Community Goes up, the risk of the very same behavior that might not have put you at that same increased risk a month ago does now. For example, if im in a room which only 1 out of 100 individuals might be infected, i have one chance of becoming infected in that setting, but what if there are ten people in that room . And what happens when the virus activity goes up in a community, that now is there. None of them know theyre infected but yet theyre breathing the virus out into the air that im about to breathe in. This is why i keep saying dont swap air. Stop swapping it. Youre right, right now we actually have a perfect storm. We have increased level of virus in our communities, we have people who are more likely to be more exposed because of the travel and the holiday season, and now on top of it we have the situation with these variant viruses that says if these start to spread around the world, which i am convinced they will, were even going to see more transmission occur. So this is why we cant waste a day in getting vaccine to people right now. Weve got to get this out. Thats the one thing that the light at the end of the tunnel. Same activity youre doing today is riskier than it would have been one week or two weeks ago. Professor osterholm, thanks so much for being with us and helping us understand whats going on here. We rish you a very merry christmas. You, too. Thanks, john. President elect joe biden received his first dose of the Coronavirus Vaccine at a delaware hospital. This is great hope, im doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared when its available to take the vaccine. There is nothing to worry about. Joining us now the Nurse Practitioner who gave the president elect his shot. Great to have you with us this morning. This was not the first dose of vaccine that you gave, but giving one to the president elect, was it any different for you . Thank you so much, erica, for having me. It wasnt much different. I was just humbled that the president chose our organization, christiana care to come and get his vaccine. It was exciting. Humbled and exciting. You, actually, as i understand it, you administered your facilitys first vaccine on friday and that was for a respiratory therapist and at that moment, too, you said it was humbling. I wonder in the days since as youre reflecting upon that moment and what the vaccine means for your facility given what has happened over the last several months. Erica, in the past several months, you know, we have all been just focused on fighting covid19 virus, our Health Care Workers, from the physicians all the way to Environmental Services and as a director of Employee Health i have seen firsthand just how stressful it has been to our caregivers. For me when we heard that the vaccine had been approved, that it got the emergency use authorization and that we got it, at christiana care, it was just it was exciting. I couldnt wait because it means that we have another tooli in or toolbox. Masking, hand washing, social distancing. So i am looking forward to brighter days our caregivers are going to get and all of the caregivers. Absolutely looking forward to those brighter days. Whats your message to the Greater Community . Because so much of what happens outside christiana care will impact what happens inside your walls and how your frontline workers have to address it. You know r, our community an our neighbors, you know, at christiana care we serve our neighbors with love and excellence, so for all our neighbors out there both in delaware and around the world and all frontline workers and outside of health care i just want to say that this vaccine is safe. The president elect got the vaccine. I got it myself and we have been vaccinating our frontline workers as we intend to continue. So i am just looking forward to people stepping up, rolling up their sleeve, getting it. Thank you for joining us this morning and thank you for all that you and your colleagues are doing there as well. Thank you. House conservatives strategizing with President Trump and Vice President pence in another long shot bid to overturn the election. Could this one work . Thats next. Tired of overpaying for your prescriptions . Try optum perks. Its a new way to save up to 80 . And everyone can do it. Its from optum, a Health Care Company thats trusted by millions of people. You dont have to sign up for anything. Just go to optumperks. Com. And get a coupon to use at your pharmacy. Thats it. I opted in. I opted in. You can, too. Opt in and save big today. New this morning, growing anxiety at the pentagon over what President Trump will do in his final days in office. Some senior military officers even trying to steer clear of the white house rather than risk being in trumps orbit. Joining us now ron brownstein, cnns senior political analyst and Senior Editor at the atlantic and elizabeth numer former department of Homeland Security assistant secretary for counterterrorism and threat prevention. Good to have both of you this morning. Good morning. I want to talk about this reporting that we have from barbara starr. We dont know what he might do is the essence of it one officer told her. We are in strange times. They are actually according to barbara making lists of everything they can think of the president might do. Theyre worried about firing, forced resignations and of top military officers. In some ways i guess its not surprising, but i think that the picture that it paints should stop you in your tracks. Absolutely. I mean, its just an unconscionable that were talking about the president of the United States and the military having to be fearful of him, but sadly this is who trump is and he has been this way for the last four years. For those of us that werent familiar with him by now we should be familiar with the fact that he doesnt understand the constitution, he is incompetent in being able to carry out his duties and his priorities are not whats best for the country, but whats best for him. I find it interesting that you have white house officials now sounding the alarm, but the person that he is and the way that he has operated it hasnt changed. Maybe there are just less people there to constrain him now and maybe thats what theyre really concerned about. I do have the utmost confidence in our military, though, and i can appreciate that its very disconcerting that they are being put in this position, but you already have a number of Senior Leaders at the pentagon that have very clearly stated we have no role in the election process, theres no purpose for martial law in the current state of affairs. So i feel fairly confident that things will remain stable as with regards to the military involvement, but it doesnt help the American Public or our stance in the world to see that our democracy is being tainted. The fact that they are having the discussion at all just tells you everything, ron. Right. Right. And, john, you dont get here in a day and you dont get here by yourself. The fact that we are even having these discussions in the pentagon much less the spectacle of martial law being discussed in the oval office, the same place where Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan worked. It doesnt happen simply in a single stroke. The fact is that President Trump from the moment of taking office has pushed against the boundaries of the rule of law over and over again. Openly extorting the government of ukraine to manufacture dirt on his opponent, weaponizing the postal service, trying to tilt the census, everything that has happened since the election to try to undermine the result. Each step along the way his own party has failed to constrain him. In fact, has done more to abet and enable him and i think he is quite confidently taken the measure that he can keep going further and further and they will not put any kind of brakes on him. And that is how you get to the point where even if these boundaries hold at this you know, at this kind of ultimate moment of undermining the democracy the fact that we have gotten this far i think is the bigger story and one that is very chilling for where american politics may be going in the years ahead. Its an excellent point, right, that we all need to regularly stop and take stock of where were at and remind ourselves nothing about this is normal. Nothing about it is okay. You know, elizabeth, to your point, the president doesnt understand the constitution and to rons point, amassing these republicans to help him essentially do his bidding. I mean, lets look at this meeting that happened yesterday at the white house. Republican lawmakers, but also the fact that now Vice President pence is in on those meetings. Theres this reporting from Jonathan Swan at axios that part of the reason is that the president is a little fed up with mike pence and is a little worried that mike pence might actually do his job on january 6 when the Electoral College folks are officially koicounted announced, elizabeth. How much do you think that could be playing into what we are seeing, that the president wants to make sure mike pence is with him until the bitter end . You know, mike pence has to sleep in the bed he made, so i dont feel too sorry for him. He has had multiple opportunities to come forward and speak the truth and he continues to try to look the other way and dance around the issues. So i dont feel sorry for him. I do i do kind of wonder if this latest gambit is an attempt by some of the advisers to channel his energy into something, you know i will use the term mildly constructive as opposed to, you know, discussing military coups and martial law. I still think it is a disservice to our country, damages our country, riles up and radicalizes his base. I have spoken about my concerns about potential for violent coming out of violent extremist groups, but i suppose this is a better option than having him entertain military coups in the oval office. Its beyond low. The bar is like, you know, in the molten core of the earth if thats the bar at this point. Youre right. Ron brownstein, let me read you wh