Stayathome order for certain counties that will go into effect saturday night. Right now we also have our eyes on capitol hill for an expected News Conference from House Speaker nancy pelosi. Thats expected to start any moment now. In a few moments ill talk to congressman James Clyburn about the pandemic priorities for democrats and the incoming biden administration. We start on this friday with our reporters on the ground who are seeing how this pandemic is affecting American Families firsthand. Right now a top official overseeing the covid fight in colorado warns hospitalizations are the highest theyve ever been. As cases rise there in the states largest city, denver, theyre implementing new restrictions. Those restrictions will take effect for businesses today. Nbcs Erin Mclaughlin has made her way to denver. Shes downtown and has been talking to Business Owners in larimer square, one of the main dining and shopping districts in denver. Erin, what are they telling you . Reporter Restaurant Owners in denver are scrambling. The fact of the matter is colorado seeing an exponential rise in its case count. The situation so bad here that according to the old dial system that was amended just this week, denver would have to go into lockdown. These latest measures are really a lastditch effort to avert those drastic actions. Its taking it out on Restaurant Owners, closing Indoor Dining as of today. Owners such as josh sampson joins me now. He owns the Farmers Market in denver. How have these latest actions impacted your business . Well, its pretty drastic. Traffic has gone down. Its bad. It cant be any worse. The shutdown would actually be maybe nice so we dont even have to try to open. But were trying to be innovative, trying to move to curbside pickup, still offering a retail experience. Theres no eating or drinking allowed inside. Were adapting. Thats the only thing we can do, is try to innovate in these times and offer the safest experience we can. Reporter state legislators are looking at a 200 million relief package aimed at helping small businesses. How much help do you need right now . Everybody needs a ton of help right now just to stay alive, to pay for staff, to try to get sales anything would help. Whatever they can do to help support small businesses. Its been the hardest time in my lifetime and certainly many others to operate a small business. Reporter state legislators looking the that relief say state is not enough. They really need the federal assistance and they need it now. They say colorados recovery is in jeopardy if they dont act quickly at the federal level. Craig . Erin mclaughlin in denver, thank you. Right now rural hospitals in iowa are facing an unprecedented strain of patients. One hospital in knoxville, iowa, has no icu and its ordered its first ventilator, but it hasnt arrived yet. Nbcs Gabe Gutierrez went inside that facility in iowa and saw what those frontline workers are experiencing firsthand. Gabe, whats it like inside the hospital . Reporter hey, craig. That ventilator is expected here next week. Now, there is a makeshift covid unit inside the hospital behind me. It was constructed this summer. Workers here hope they never have to use it, but things have changed drastically over the last couple weeks. They have seen a huge surge in cases. Craig, you have to understand, with many rural hospitals across the country, they just cant handle that much they dont have that much capacity, only ten or so beds here for covid patients, but they are either at or near capacity and have been for the last several weeks. The most critical patients here have to be taken about an hour away to the state capital in des moines. We spoke with several of the frontline workers here, these doctors and nurses that are now seeing this unprecedented surge like never before. Take a listen to what they had to say. We worry about capacity. We worry about the service, what we or going to do and brainstorm all the worst possibilities that it could be. Ive been with a couple nurses a couple nurses crying you get to the end of your shift and weve done all weve done. So just the consoling of them saying youre a great nurse, youre doing all you can. Were going to make it through. Clinician, as you know, are hard as nails, but even a nail bends. Reporter so, craig, its not just the emotional toll here at rural hospitals really across the country. Its also a financial one. Earlier this year many of these hospitals took a huge economic hit. Their economic lifeline was shut down when some of these restrictions went into place limiting elective surgeries and routine care. So they have been battling a financial crunch throughout the year. Now theyre dealing with this surge in cases. There is no icu here. They just ordered their first ventilator. Its expected here next week, craig. Next week. Okay. Gabe gutierrez in knoxville, iowa, thank you. Now to that major step forward for pfizer. Today the company is going to be applying for emergency use authorization from the fda for its coronavirus vaccine. That process is expected to take a few weeks. There are a lot of questions, a lot of questions about vaccines. We brought in an expert, dr. Mario ramirez, the former pandemic and emerging threats coordinator, also an emergency physician. Dr. Ramirez, thanks so much for your time this friday morning. Let me start with your reaction to this next step for pfizer, if the fda approves this emergency use application as it is expected it will, when can we expect to see people starting to get this vaccine, and what does that process look like . Lots of good questions in there, craig. What needs to happen, pfizer submits the application to the fda. The fda is scheduled to meet with their Approval Committee between december 8th to the 10th. After it goes through that committee who will hopefully approve the vaccine, it has to go to the Cdc Advisory Committee on immunization practices. Thats the group that actually makes the recommendation about which group should receive which vaccine. So, as we start to get into later parts of the year and into early 2021, and there are multiple vaccine candidates, that Advisory Committee will make recommendations about which vaccines should go to which group. As far as pfizer goes in particular, it will go to the fda, then the cdc. My expectation is this will start to roll out to folks by the second week of december, more or less. What that process actually looks like is still unclear. Were not sure if that projected 20 million doses will roll out through hospitals to the Front Line Health Care workers first or if theyll try to use a different point of distribution system. Will folks be able to walk into walgreens or cvs or their Doctors Office and get a shot in the arm or two shots in the arm . It wont be there for sure in december. We wont be there in january or february most likely. The federal government has established agreements with cvs and walgreens and several other pharmacy distribution chains so that eventually we will get to that point. The best estimates weve seen looks like thats probably not likely until late march or early april. The goal is that is likely to be a point of distribution. Lets get to some of these viewer questions because, again, were getting a slew of them. Dave in washington wants to know, the Pfizer Vaccine needs to be maintained at a very cold temperature. What happens to its efficacy if this has not been done consistently . How do i know as a recipient if its still a viable vaccine. Dr. Ramirez, do we know the answer to that . We do, craig. These particular vaccine candidates, pfizer in particular, is stored at a very cold temperature because its a new kind of vaccine based on mrna. Its packaged in a different way than other vaccines have been packaged compared to others in the past. What that ultra cold temperature does is stabilize the rna molecule itself. What i think he needs to know is that every sort of link along the distribution chain is closely monitored. So whether were talking about ice chests packed with dry ice or the ultra cold freezers themselves, every piece of that equipment has a temperature probe that continually monitors the temperature and its the job of the technician or the Distribution Site to check those temperatures every so often to make sure theyre staying in the right range. If they dont, then that batch of vaccines would be discarded. Okay. Thats reassuring. One more here, doctor. This is a question weve actually got more than a dozen times so far. This one is about whether people with preexisting conditions will be able to get the vaccine. People who are im mow compromised or have diabetes or heart disease, cancer, even people with egg allergies, a lot of them are worried about taking the vaccine. Dr. Ramirez, the intricacies of these diseases i know can be very different. But big picture, what do we know about how a vaccine could affect any of these folks . So the publicly reported data weve seen so far looks like these vaccines are very well tolerated. Again, getting back to the Cdc Advisory Committee on immunization practices that i mentioned earlier, the job of that group is to look at the side effect profile among the different vaccine candidates as they come through. What that committee may see is certain candidates perform better in folks over 65 or seem to cause more side effects in folks with other medical conditions. So this wont be really so much of a concern for december or january when the supply is so limited. But as we start to get to the point where there are multiple candidates, that Advisory Committee is going to weigh in specifically about which vaccines will be safest for which group and well get recommendations from them. Dr. Ramirez, stay with me. Well answer more viewer and listener questions about the coronavirus later this hour. You can tweet us those questions using msnbcanswers or you can send us an oldfashioned email, talk msnbc. Com. Speaker nancy pelosi started the Weekly Press Conference on capitol hill. A big issue theyre focused on right now, the urgent need for more covid relief to address this pandemic. The speaker just moments ago called on republicans to come back to the negotiating table. The speaker and Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer are meeting with president elect joe biden and Vice President elect Kamala Harris in person later today. Im joined by one of the senior democratic members in the house, majority whip South Carolina congressman jim clyburn. Congressman, always good to have you, sir. Nbc news has learned that staff of the house and senate met thursday. The discussions included, were told, covid relief. What more can you tell us about those talks, and whats the realistic timeline for when something could get done . Thank you very much for having me. The problem is i dont know the answer to that question. I know the discussions started up. All these discussions seem to be at the staff level. I had a long talk with Speaker Pelosi last night. He talked about this and a few other issues as well, but im not in the room, so i dont know exactly how to answer the question as to progress. I do know this. The senate is not in town, and i do understand that they there are 20 to 25 senators who do not want to do anything. So the question is whether or not Mitch Mcconnell will put a bill on the floor and get what senators he can from the republican side and get the rest of them from the democrats. Lets do whats necessary to get peoples lives a little more in order. Were getting a new snapshot of how much people are hurting financially right now. Some new research finds, quote, the u. S. Poverty rate rose by nearly 2 over the summer with about 7 million more americans falling below the poverty line. The authors of the study connect the increase to the end of programs like the 600 weekly unemployment payments and onetime stimulus checks. You know how tough its been for a lot of folks in your district there in South Carolina. Is this a situation where many folks are just going to have to wait until president elect biden is sworn in . I hope not. We dont have to do that. We can do something in the next several days. I would hope that we could come up with something, give some immediate relief. People ought to have a better feeling about themselves and their surroundings going into the holidays. For them to go through so much uncertainty toward the end of the year, hoping and praying that things will get better after january 20th, it could be too late for a lot of people. So im hoping we can get something done between now and then. I think we need to just look at what the needs are. You just mentioned the poverty rate and what they say contributed to that. Lets move immediately to do something about that so these people will not be suffering that condition throughout the holiday season. The president elect Just Announced new members of his incoming staff in positions like social secretary, office of legislative affairs. Nbc news is reporting hes being pushed to name a person of color as his health and Human Services secretary in part because the burden of this pandemic has had such a disproportionate impact on communities of color. Youve been an indispensable adviser to the biden team. Do you agree with that push . Yes, i do. I think ive seen several names of people of color that i think would be great, and i hope one of those that i heard will get the job. While i have you here, i have to ask you, the president elect actually turns 78 today. Its joe bidens birthday. He will sworn in as the oldest president in our countrys history. When you look at the top democratic leadership, congressman, Speaker Pelosi is 80, House Majority oleader sten hoyer is 81. Youre the younger of them, 80 yourself. When do you foresee a transition of the partys top leadership roles to the next generation . Its already been taken place. The chair of our caucus, jeffries is there, kathleen is the assistant leader. The vice chair is pete, whose last name escapes me now. Pete is a young guy. So the transition is taking place, the vice chair, chair and assistant speaker positions. Pelosi confirmed yesterday or the day before, according to reports ive seen, that this could very well be her last term. So its taking place. I dont know that you have to have it all done at once. We are maintaining stability of our movement to a new level of leadership. Have you had any conversations with the Incoming Administration about a potential role . You mean for myself . Yes, for yourself. Absolutely not. No interest, no interest . I have no interest the washington job that i want, im sitting in it, and i have no interest in being in the white house or in the cabinet, no. Im not doing that. A lot of times when people say no to me on those kinds of questions, i dont believe them. I believe you on that, congressman jim clyburn. I believe you. Have a good weekend, sir. Happy thanksgiving. More Senate Republicans breaking with president trumps team on their phony claims of election fraud. The president himself, he doesnt seem to care. The guests hes hosting at the white house today, well talk about that. Jonathan cape hart is going to join us to break down his insightful conversation a few hours ago with president obama and his message to republicans. At the end of the day, i dont think any of this will be successful. I think that you have enough republicans with integrity including officials in places like georgia that have said were just going to count and call it the way we see it. Thats what theyre supposed to do. Still fresh unstopables inwash scent booster downy unstopables you can do better, steve get a freshly made footlong, from subway® you can even order on the subway® app did i just get picked off by Deion Sanders . You sure did now in the app, get a free footlong when you buy two. Because its footlong season™ a new buick . For me . To james, from james. Thats just what i wanted. Is this a new buick . I secret santaed myself. I shouldnt have. But i have been very good this year. Wow wow wow this year, turn black friday into buick friday all month long. 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You can see protesters greeting them, at least one of them, as they arrived at the airport last hour. The Trump Campaign requested a recount in two counties in wisconsin as well. That recount started literally, were told, just seconds ago. Carol lee is at the white house, Shaquille Brewster on the ground in wisconsin. Shaq, let me start with you. What do we expect from this recount that just started . Reporter this process just started seconds ago