progress reporter: but in the south and west, where omicron hit later, a different story entirely one of cases surging, setting new records and overrunning hospitals. but dr. anthony fauci says he s hopeful the country will soon see a turnaround possibly by mid february we don t want to get overconfident, but it looks like it s going in the right direction. reporter: there s a big caveat fauci predicting more pain and suffering in areas where fewer people are vaccinated and boosted. and josh joins us now from the national mall josh, was this protest against the vaccine itself or targeted more at the mandates reporter: well, they say it s about the mandates, but the speeches today were filled with misinformation about vaccine risks. we asked rally goers whether they, themselves, were vaccinated all but one of them told us they weren t kate josh, thank you believe it or not, tomorrow is the start of tax season, the first day you can file with the irs but there are warnings