received this statement from the white house 68-year-old secretary of defense lloyd austin did test positive for the virus this morning. he received his test after exhibiting symptoms, got tested and found out he was in fact infected but he says his symptoms are mild. he s following his physician s directions and will quarantine for five days at home. key to note, he will remain retain all duties over the coming days and he says that he will attend meetings virtually in the interim as he recovers. also key in the statement, my last hmeeting with president biden occurred tuesday, december 21st a week before i began to experience symptoms. i tested negative that very morning. i have not been in the pentagon since thursday where i met briefly and only with a few members of my staff. but secretary austin did have the vaccine and the booster imploring everyone in the military to continue to get that vaccine and booster describing it as a readiness issue. breaking news this eveni
its seven-day average of new infections soaring to an average of more than 386,000 new cases a day. in only one state, maine, cases are down. iowa is holding steady, but the vast majority of the country seen in dark red here is struggling with a surge of 50% or more in new infections. hospitalizations and deaths are lower than their 2021 peaks, but the avalanche of new cases has the cdc predicting that more than 44,000 people could die of covid-19 in the next four weeks. and that underscoring the anxiety of millions of parents who will send their kids back to school as early as monday. some school districts facing a spike in child hospitalizations and they have already announced at least a partial transition to online learning. cnn s nadia romero is covering the pediatric surge, but first let s get with pal low sandoval on the airline cancellations. it is a real nightmares for travelers. reporter: it certainly is. airlines continue in their efforts to try to mitigate the ef
emerging here is that this country is going to be in the soup in just in the next few weeks with so many cases in so many locations that we are going to see critical infrastructure, as well as healthcare challenged. to that point, new cases are now averaging nearly 300,000 a day. a new cdc forecast out late today predicts more than 44,000 new deaths are possible over the next four weeks. yes, 44,000. meantime, testing remains hard to come by. former hhs official, rick bright, on cnn this evening compared it to the hunger games and as people scramble to get tested ahead of new year s eve and holiday flights back home, schools in some of the hardest-hit areas are laying out new guidelines. it is a lot. cnn s tom foreman starts us off. reporter: schools in d.c. will require all students and staff to have negative covid tests to come back to class. new york city will require rigorous testing, too. all that, as the white house says it expects to sign a contract for a half-bill
challenged. to that point, new cases are now averaging nearly 300,000 a day. a new cdc forecast out late today predicts more than 44,000 new deaths are possible over the next four weeks. yes, 44,000. meantime, testing remains hard to come by. former hhs official, rick bright, on cnn this evening compared it to the hunger games and as people scramble to get tested ahead of new year s eve and holiday flights back home, schools in some of the hardest-hit areas are laying out new guidelines. it is a lot. cnn s tom foreman starts us off. reporter: schools in d.c. will require all students and staff to have negative covid tests to come back to class. new york city will require rigorous testing, too. all that, as the white house says it expects to sign a contract for a half-billion at-home covid tests next week. and as the centers for disease control faces sharp questioning over new guidelines for covid-weary americans. it really had a lot to do with what, um, we thought peopl
good morning to those of you in the united states and around the world. brianna and john are off today. good morning, john. two days to 2022. two days left. this morning we have big headlines with the u.s. shattering its record of daily new coronavirus cases as the highly contagious omicron variant spreads rapidly. daily new cases hitting a record seven-day average of 300,000 cases this week. the last time we hit a peak close to that was january. dr. fauci is strongly discouraging going to large parties. don t be hugging, kissing, any of that celebrating that normally comes with new year s. if your plans are to go to a 40 to 50-person new year s eve party with all the bells and whistles and everybody hugging and kissing and wishing each other a happy new year, i would strongly recommend that this year we do not do that. not the year for hugging and kissing at midnight. all right. there s also been growing pushback from frontline workers to the new cdc guidelines, cu