world. this is cnn newsroom. live from cnn center, this is cnn news proom. several hundred thousands americans have now lost their lives to the coronavirus with the last 100,000 deaths added in little more than 100 days. the staggering figure comes wow there are deadly fallen infections. poly, more booster options are likely coming. the administration will meet in mid-october to discuss booster doses. later in the month, the panel is set to discuss using pfizer vaccine for children under 12. merck s if you drug isn t on the fda calendar yet. it s not stopping experts from calling it a dramatic game changer. cnn s dr. gupta has more on what we are learning. this the a pretty big deal. in fact, a data safety monitoring board actually looked at the trial results. they re ongoing from merck and decided they looked so good that they actually wanted to stop the trial and encourage the company to go ahead and apply for emergency useful often sometimes they re stopped because
however, are dropping. one reason for optimism, merck says its new antiviral drug cuts the risk of hospitalization and death by 50% for covid patients. the company plans to submit a request for emergency use authorization to the fda as soon as possible. experts say this is a major development in fighting the pandemic. this is the most impactful result that i remember seeing of an orally available drug and the treatment of a respiratory pathogen, perhaps ever. i think getting an oral pill that can inhibit viral replication, inhibit this virus is going to be a real game changer. it s going to be used like tamiflu. people get vaccinated for flu, but some develop, and tamiflu helps mitigate symptoms in those individuals. dr. gottlieb and other health officials are stressing an antiviral pill is not an alternative to getting the vaccine. cnn s polo sandoval joining me now from new york, what more are you learning. with over 700,000 deaths reported now, that means the u.s. co
massive implications for the u.s. economy. therefore for you and me. a shutdown would mean government services across the board would close millions of americans already burdened with financial hardships on the pandemic would feel the impact if the u.s. runs out of money. federal workers would not get paid. payments to medicaid recipients would be halted as well. social security checks would not hit bank accounts and pay checks for our troops would stop. for those of you receiving the child tax credit, that would end as well. so can democrats overcome the gop blockade to avert the looming shutdown? president biden, will he bridge the divide within his own party to push his agenda over the finish line? cnn congressional correspondent lauren fox is on capitol hill, white house correspondent jeremy diamond also with us. lauren, to you first, to be clear, we have been here before. we have been here where congress gets close to the brink, frankly when both parties have been in pow
nonstop daily flights will start out of tia. but if you book before november 20, you will get a special rate. that s right. $59 for you. free bags, smiles, amazing. a journey of less than an hour. reporter: that is for flights operating december 12 through april 24 of next year. the airline also announcing today it is operating a connecting flight through the fort lauderdale deal, the voyage south has to happen before april 24. looking back, it has been 50 years since we have seen flights to cuba from any u.s. city thanks to the communist revolution. jen? this is exciting news for a lot of people. southwest is not the first airline to fly to cuba. reporter: that s right. jet blue landed first in santa clara. then silver airways and american airlines started as new tonight, 14-year-old alexander perez is charged as an adult in a home invasion that killed an 81-year-old man. perez is accused of viciously attacking robert walker. newschannel8 spoke with walker just hours
a warning this morning for parents this morning. a boy in pasco county says a man tried to lure him into the woods. and it happened shayla reaves joins us ?live from wesley chapel this morning. with more on this. and shayla. a lot of parents have to be concerned about sending their kids off in polk county: police in lake wales are trying to track down two people.. who robbed a convenience store owner.. and then ?killed him. this video shows the hooded robbers running away after shooting mohamed allam, one of the owners of q-p, a convenience store in lake wales.. it happened around two a-m thursday. investigators say allam had just closed the store , when the robbers told him to complied, they ?still shot and killed him. if you recognize him, call lake wales police. and take a good loook at these pictures. detectives in hillsborough county need your help finding this man. these are surveillance images from a subway restaurant on brandon boulevard. wednesday afternoon. deputi