pamela brown tonight in washington, you're in the cnn newsroom. we begin this hour with a sobering reality on the covid pandemic. that viral blizzard the u.s. was warned about, it's here. the swift spread of the highly contagious omicron variant has pushed hospitalizations close to the record set almost a year ago, and the number of american children hospitalized with covid has soared to the highest level of the entire pandemic. helping drive that number, children under 5 who are too young to be vaccinated. many hospitals are facing a staffing crisis because covid is infecting their personnel. some states have deployed national guard troops seen here in the protective gear to help fill that void. new york is now the latest state to mandate booster shots for health care workers. a former member of president biden's covid-19 advisory board says the nation needs better long-term planning. >> unfortunately, if you vaccinate today the people who are unvaccinated who account for