little bit of this. we had a hint of it with the delta variant in the south here in texas. and and neighboring southern states. and it created a firestorm or what my friend mike osterholm likes to call a virus blizzard where kids are getting swept up in it. not that the not that the variant is specifically targeting kids. but they are getting along with it. so the expectation is omicron will do something similar. we kind of had a hint that was going to happen based on south africa and and the uk. so, we are going to see a lot of children s hospitals admissions. some pediatric icu admissions. the big unknown, i think, is how much of our health-care workforce is going to get knocked out because they have breakthrough covid. right. and that he is the kind of toxic mix i am looking at. and that s why big reason, dr. reiner, why the cdc changed its guidance and cut in half the kwar quarantine time. earlier today, i spoke with the
scotland to move towards staying at home for people who can as we move into the christmas period. and predictions that we could be seeing about 80,000 cases of both delta and omicron as we go into the christmas period. there is definitely a sense that we all desperately hope that the pandemic is behind us, that it s definitely not. i think the big question, the big unknown is we know cases are rising, we know that infection rates are going to be high, looks like omicron is far more infection than delta. but we still don t have a sense of what its impact will be on serious disease, hospitalisation and death. i think thatis hospitalisation and death. i think that is the key thing and that will be the thing that moves and drives the government. i do think they probably need to be taking some precautionary measures. and potentially asking people to work from home again. it should be something that s on the table but i think all of our hearts are sinking.
outcompeting delta. i think if you re not vaccinated, i think the biggest threat is the delta variant by far. that s going to continue. but the reason why omicron could gain some foot hold, we have a lot of partially immunized people. if you ve been infected and recovered but not gotten vaccinated on top of that, i think you re going to be very susceptible to omicron reinfection. we ve seen a fair number of reinfections in south africa. so that s going to be the role of omicron, i think, causing reinfection in people who have been infected and recovered but not vaccinated or maybe among the partially vaccinated, meaning they got one dose but didn t complete the series. the big unknown is what happens to those of us who got three doses. i don t have the answer. we re working on it in our lab, as i m sure moderna and pfizer
relationship with the taliban. the pentagon not embracing yet the notion that there was any defeat involved there, leaving that to the pages of history. listen to what the press secretary john kirby had to say on cnn s new day a short time ago. historians will write the chapters here. we prevented afghanistan from becoming a safe haven for an attack against the united states. in the process, nato forces, afghan partners made a lot of progress in that country, progress which is now going to be up to the taliban to see whether they re willing to continue or not. they have made promises and now the united states government, the international community are going to hold them accountable to those promises. reporter: the big unknown, of course, is the potential terror threat from the u.s. point of view, isis-k, isis in afghanistan. the pentagon is saying that threat is right in the lap of the taliban. jim?
question before i lose you here because you told me months ago we would see a red state, blue state divide over covid. sure enough that s what s happening especially in florida, texas where the gop governors are going against experts. so florida has about 6.5% of the u.s. population but about 20% of the hospitalizations and cases. you know, i was talking to you in the commercial break how coming up in the fall and winter are we going to see is it going to get worse? how much worse is this going to get, doctor? well, that s the big unknown, right? we know when the schools i m not even thinking about fall at this point, don. remember last fall we started to see the surge up in the mountain west states and in the upper midwest. so we re going to likely see that again in the mountain west states where vaccination rates are also low. but for now it s a matter of getting through the next few weeks as schools open. you know, everybody stamped their feet and said we have to do in-person cl