NBC Nightly News Broadcast (Full) - December 31st, 2020 | NBC Nightly News
tonight the end of a catastrophic year and hopes and fears for 2021 the streets of times square nearly empty new year's celebrations canceled across the country officials warning americans not to gather as icu's hit capacity the video already out of people partying and the country's able to celebrate where they're packing the streets growing concern about a new highly contagious strain of the virus now in at least two states are there more cases than we know about the long waits to get vaccinated dr fauci with his strongest criticism yet of the vaccine rollout and did a pharmacist intentionally destroy 500 doses the investigation tonight tens of millions in the path of a big winter storm from texas all the way to the east coast the new year's day forecast new video of the woman who wrongly accused a black teenager of stealing her phone why she says she was the victim history in the nba for the first time a woman takes on the role of head coach and health care heroes on the front lines what they wish for in the new year this is nbc nightly news with lester holt good evening i'm peter alexander in for lester tonight americans will gladly ring in the end of a year that most would rather forget 2020 was both exhausting and heartbreaking and we are now just hours away from its unprecedented finale take a look at new york's times square right now an eerie emptiness where millions of revelers would normally be packing the streets the big fear on this new year's eve that many americans could spread the virus by ignoring public health officials recommendation that they celebrate at home we begin tonight with nbc's gabe gutierrez tonight for the first time in generations the streets of times square are mostly empty on new year's eve capping off 2020. in some way it feels like it went by like in an instant and another way it feels like the longest year of my life the iconic ball drop is ready but no crowds this year a drastic departure from the hundreds of thousands who usually gather at the crossroads of the world this time streets shut down 80 percent fewer officers but security still tight do not come to the area if you think you're going to be able to stand there and watch the ball you're mistaken across the country fireworks displays canceled in chicago and las vegas in boston and los angeles police on the lookout for house parties my message couldn't be clear do not get together with others on new year's eve but in florida where the governor ended all coveted restrictions on bars and restaurants social media is already full of pack party videos even as broward county tries to enforce a 1am curfew back in times square only invited guests allowed including first responders and health care workers among them dr zaki azam a doctor in the bronx who not only treated covet patients but lost his own grandfather to the virus i'm so fortunate to have this experience to see it live and i'm just so so thankful 2021 also can't come soon enough for baldwin davis a public safety worker who lost his twin brother to covid what's the ball drop i'll consider it get rid of pass and a new beginning the new year's eve ball has been raised and lit and it is surreal to see the streets of times square this empty but in a year where the virus has taken so much one thing it has not stolen is hope peter well said gabe gutierrez in new york tonight gabe thank you very much in much of the world the new year is already here a few countries celebrating like the virus is no longer a threat while many others are under even more severe lockdowns sarah harmon has more incredible images from new zealand tonight a giant crowd no masks life basically back to normal as they ring in the new year in the small island nation where covet cases have been virtually eliminated i want this year to be more more more happier than last year in australia fireworks soared above a mostly empty sydney harbor while in the chinese city wuhan where kobit 19 originated thousands packed the city center to celebrate in europe festivities and traditions were curtailed by lockdowns and curfews statues and monuments in london barricaded off berlin banning fireworks rome and saint peter's square empty inside the basilica a socially distanced mass took place without the pope across the continent abandoned streets and an uncanny quiet as the world says farewell to a year few will miss but no one will forget here in london people are being urged to see in the new year from home and police are threatening to find rule breakers throwing a new year's eve party this year comes with a 13 thousand dollar fine peter sarah harman in london tonight sarah thank you and here in this country a new milestone this evening more than 20 million cases of coven 19 have now been reported and there is growing concern about just how widespread that new highly contagious strain of the virus first discovered in the uk may be it's now confirmed in at least two states with the number of cases expected to rise nbc's miguel almaguer has the latest the confirmed cases of the new covet variant strain are likely just the first in a wave of infections expected to soon cascade across the nation the latest case discovered here in san diego is a 30 year old man who tested positive two days ago isolating at home authorities say a household contact is now also symptomatic if this new strain gets moving quickly within our community i'm really concerned the infection in california which comes after a case in colorado appears to be community spread the case had no history of travel so we know there's more we don't know how many while scientists expected mutations they believe this variant spreads more efficiently because of changes to its spike protein which can more easily dock onto human cells the evolution of the virus does not appear to make people sicker or the illness deadlier not long after officials said it had spread widely in london the variant was detected here at home it appears from what we learned from the uk and what we'll prove here is that this particular mutation does in fact make the virus better at transmitting from one person to another in colorado where the variant was first confirmed in the u.s authorities say a second national guard soldier may also be infected they were helping patients at this rural assisted living center after it became a covet hot spot with new cases of the variant in more states expected authorities say the best way to prevent spread is the same way wash hands wear masks and keep social distance the good news the vaccine remains effective it doesn't seem to evade the protection that's afforded by the antibodies that are induced by vaccines tonight with many hospitals still at a breaking point an evolving threat in a deadly battle entering a new stage and a new year here in los angeles county now the epicenter of the pandemic a new variant is exactly what hospitals like the one behind me don't need icus across this region are already exceeding capacity in la county more than 10 000 people have died in this area alone and peter all of this comes on the backdrop of those 20 million americans who have been infected by the virus peter miguel almaguer in los angeles tonight miguel thank you with federal officials admitting the vaccine rollout has been far slower than promised and dr anthony fauci joining the chorus of criticism many americans spent their new year's eve waiting in hours long lines to get vaccinated nbc's carrie sanders has that part of the story in florida those 65 and older and health care workers exasperated by the vaccine rollout here those who are eligible for the first round of shots waiting up to eight hours in first come first served lines i blame our whole government i mean i totally blame our government that this is this is not what it should be i did not expect to be sitting here since 3 45 this morning in florida one in five of the state's 21 million residents is 65 or older the demand for vaccines overwhelming officials in fort myers today defending their plan of first come first served could it be more efficient you betcha we're the first to admit that it gets better every day and it's going to be better next week than it was this week taking appointments with its own set of problems in fort lauderdale when broward health announced anyone 65 or older could get a shot the phone lines crashed the problem nationwide in tennessee today a miles long traffic jam for people waiting for a vaccine state officials blame the federal government operation warp speed past responsibility of administering the vaccine to state and local health departments which are underfunded and for the last nine months have been focused on getting people tested for the virus the former commissioner of health in new jersey if we're not able to get through that first phase as fast as possible that's going to push the whole chain down in terms of time and as we're seeing every day means lives thousands of lives and in wisconsin a pharmacist fired and arrested tonight after allegations of intentionally contaminating 500 doses of the vaccine by taking the vials out of a refrigerator tonight in florida a member of the state cabinet is calling on the governor to call in the national guard to take over vaccine distribution to fix the chaos so far no indication that will happen peter carrie sanders in florida tonight kerry thank you also tonight just days before that critical senate runoff in georgia that could determine control of the senate republican senator david perdue is now in quarantine after coming in close contact with someone who tested positive for the virus purdue's campaign says the senator has tested negative president trump is scheduled to campaign in georgia on monday tonight he's back at the white house after cutting short his florida vacation ahead of a key date for his last ditch effort to overturn the results of the presidential election nbc's kelly o'donnell with the very latest leaving palm beach earlier than expected skipping the annual mar-a-lago party to ring in the new year but president trump's resolution has been all too clear fighting to overturn joe biden's win with a republican recruit drawing new fire missouri senator josh hawley 74 million americans have concerns about election integrity we're supposed to sit down and shut up i mean somebody has to stand up here congress must certify biden's electoral college win next week but hawley says he will object to force a vote on each state's electoral tally turning a ceremonial event into another flash point this is my opportunity to stand up and say something some fellow republicans call the ploy undemocratic nebraska republican senator ben sasse writes in a blistering post today they're wrong adults don't point a loaded gun at the heart of legitimate self-government democrats confident the outcome won't change find the protest alarming i think it's outrageous more than that it borders on sedition or treason republican senator mitch mcconnell has advised others not to object to the electoral college certification next week but will give senators some room to vote their own conscience according to sources familiar but this will put in some drama that puts any senator up for reelection next time at some political risk peter kelly o'donnell on the north lawn at the white house tonight kelly thank you and on this new year's eve we are watching a major storm hitting much of the eastern half of the country dylan dreyer is following it all dylan peter good evening we've got this mess moving through the middle of the country and it is going to continue to move to the east as we go into tonight so for the overnight hours as we ring in the new year we're still looking for some icing conditions especially through the midwest and rain to the south of that and then on the first day of 2021 still pretty messy through iowa into michigan into parts of new york and pennsylvania before that ice changes over to some rain and the rain will be heavy at times as it makes its way through new york city through southern new england we will see snow across northern new england severe storms are possible down through the southeast and we could see as much as about two to three inches of additional rain peter all right dylan thanks so much and a happy new year to you in just 60 seconds new video of that disturbing confrontation after a woman wrongly accused a black teen of stealing her cell phone we are back now with a new video of that confrontation in a manhattan hotel a woman wrongly accusing a black teenager of stealing her cell phone and allegedly attacking him here's ron allen this new hotel surveillance video appears to show the woman grabbing 14-year-old keon harold jr and tackling him after wrongfully accusing the teen of taking her phone the video released by new york city police who are asking the public for help finding the woman no i'm not letting him walk away with my phone the team's father grammy award-winning musician keon harold senior first posted this video on instagram insisting it's yet another example of racial profiling are you kidding me you feel like there's only one one iphone made in the world my son harold says he and his son guests at the arlo hotel in manhattan were heading out for a meal saturday morning when the woman confronted them i can't even come downstairs in new york city prime new york city and just go get brunch without being attacked and wrongfully accused of something it's not clear what happened before or after what's captured on the video police say they know who the woman is but have not publicly identified her and that her phone was returned by an uber driver just after the incident investigators say the woman could be charged with assault grand larceny or attempted robbery so this just has to end and when someone does something like this they have to suffer consequences nbc news has not been able to reach the woman she spoke to cnn by phone saying she is the victim and that she first asked to see the hotel surveillance video and asked another person in the lobby about her phone before confronting the heralds the harold family also wants a civil rights investigation into the hotel it breaks my heart that this is happening to our son this incident could have been avoided in so many ways in a statement the hotel apologized to the heralds adding that while a manager quickly called police more should have been done to de-escalate the situation ron allen nbc news new york across the country this new year's eve places that should be overflowing with tourists are instead quiet stephanie rule on the economic impact inside big apple souvenirs owner kevin chen is taking it one day at a time we only get two customers a day if we're lucky maybe 10 but let's say in 2019 whole day i'll probably have maybe 500 customers his gift shop is steps away from new york city's times square but with so few out-of-towners he's feeling the squeeze right now chen is paying the store's rent from his own savings i believe having a successful vaccine into place would bring tourism back give a sense of security and hope for not just tourists but also for new yorkers and small business owners the city isn't dead but the pandemic has taken a chunk out of its tourism influx 2020 is expected to see a 66 drop in visitors compared to last year while tourism isn't expected to fully recover until the year 2024 and it's not just in new york in las vegas there are tighter occupancy restrictions in places like casinos bars and restaurants in california theme parks are still closed tourism in the time of covid is leaving many without a job one-third of those currently out of work in the u.s come from the travel and tourism sector the lack of tourists all adds up compared to last year the u.s economy has lost more than 500
billion dollars in travel spending during the pandemic since march [Music] mardi gras in new orleans is still happening but it's going to look different this year there will be no parades mardi gras is where you make your little pot of money to get you through the lean times polly watts owns the avenue pub which runs along the parade route she understands the decision to scale back mardi gras watts has been able to continue to operate but has had to use her own savings to pay for her employees health insurance i do think if you're going to tell tens of thousands of people in the city of orleans or any of these big cities that they cannot work that you owe them some path to survival so i'd be happy with just making sure the employment base was taken care of small businesses still looking for that light at the end of a really long tunnel stephanie rule nbc news new york a much brighter moment in the nba last night san antonio spurs assistant coach becky hammond making history the first woman to serve as head coach in an nba game it happened when coach greg popovich was ejected in the first half hammond already made history in 2014 when she became the league's first female full-time coach and up next right here those on the front lines and their new year's wishes this is our last broadcast of 2020 and it seems only fitting to give the last word to those healthcare workers who have been on the front lines all this time this is their wish for the new year my wish for 2021 is for us all to be happy and covet free we've learned so much from 2020 that now we can face 2021 with renewed hope and promise i just know this time next year we will all be healthier may 2021 be a year of unity love and compassion for everyone in honor of all those who have given so much i look forward to telling my grandkids about the day i got the shot and how things changed and hopefully for the better i'm looking forward to paying back some of the precious time i've missed with my family due to the demands from coronavirus my wish for 2021 is to be able to travel without restrictions to be able to take my kids to the park and for there to be a lot of kids for them to play with to go visit friends and family i want to do more fly fishing and sign less death certificates to see my grandma again and give her a big hug and for my children to return back to school my wish for 2021 is to get married in vegas [Music] my wish for 2021 would be that we can all safely spend the holidays together with our families despite all the trauma of this year i've seen how much beauty there is in human strength and in the lives of others 2021 is full of a lot of hope and so am things will get a little bit brighter i hope that everyone stays happy and healthy stay strong and stay safe never surrender and never quit continue to fight to keep saving as many lives and heal as many broken souls as possible let's keep it off because now more than ever we have the power to overcome this pandemic and together we will win this battle happy 2021. we owe them all a huge debt that's nightly news for this new year's eve i'm peter alexander we thank you for watching wishing you a very safe and healthy new year hey nbc news viewers thanks for checking out our youtube channel subscribe by clicking on that button down here and click on any of the videos over here to watch the latest interviews show highlights and digital exclusives thanks for watching
2021-01-03 19:31
