Announcer this is Nbc Nightly News with lester holt, reporting tonight from surfside, florida. Good evening we are witnessing a disaster of almost unprecedented scale here in surfside, florida, just north of miami beach, where a desperate Search And Rescue effort is under way to find those that may still be trapped more than a half day after part of a 12story Condo Building simply collapsed. It happened without warning in the middle of the night, practically unheard of kind of catastrophe in this country the destruction starkly visible from in the air, while in the Basement Parking garage, dramatic scenes of firefighters risking their own lives searching for possible victims even now, officials fear the rest of the building could come down anytime nearby, desperate families are gathering, waiting for word about loved ones, filled with anguish and heartbreak authorities confirmed one person has died. They say almost 100 people remain unaccounted for. Some may not be home, but they dont
have in the lab coming through is delta. reporter: in the lab, scientists take a covid positive sample and look for what is known as an s-dropout, meaning the virus s spike protein is so mutated that it can t be detected. that tells them they could be dealing with a variant such as omicron. how likely is it that you are going to find it oh, we will find it eventually it is just a matter of how soon. reporter: here the virus hunting starts at the sewer for months this team has been collecting and sequencing sewage samples from uc san diego and elementary schools across the city it is a way of detecting asymptomatic infection early. by sequencing the wastewater and understanding what particular variants are in our community, it allows us to understand whether there s a variant of concern that has arrived. reporter: no signs of omicron so far, but scientists here say it is only a matter of time tonight in san diego, this team is poised to be among the first to find it. lester
lester gabe gutierrez starting us from new york across the country this evening medical detectives are searching for the new variant, analyzing positive covid tests in dozens of labs. erin mclaughlin got access to one of them in san diego. reporter: tonight, the cdc and scientists at nearly 70 state and local health labs are on the hunt for omicron, sequencing 40,000 to 80,000 specimens each week. given what we have seen in southern africa and certainly in europe, we do expect that it is here. reporter: like all viruses, covid mutates. that s normal. but what has experts concerned is the high number of mutations in the omicron variant, which attaches to human cells, making it more transmissible to others we were invited inside the labs at uc san diego where scientists are sequencing positive covid tests to check for the mutated virus. we get a lot of delta right now. it is pretty much everything that we
spears. but britney was working during the conservatorship, raising questions as why to it lasted this long. tonight a judge ruled jaime spears role as conservator is suspended. do we know for how long reporter: well, the suspension is expected to last, according to the judge, until the next hearing to formally end the conservatorship, and that is expected before the end of the year lester erin mclaughlin in los angeles, thank you also this evening, your mail is about to get slower and more expensive. starting friday, the changes at the post office will lead to longer delivery times for first class mail as part of a ten-year plan unveiled by postmaster general louis dejoy. package delivery prices going up temporarily just ahead of the holidays. an alarming announcement today for the u.s. fish and wildlife service
timberlake whose past treatment of the superstar is controversial, tweeting no one should ever be held against their will, others scrutinizing every detail of her statement, including describing working seven days a week with no days off, losing control of her possessions, credit card, cash, phone, passport saying staff watched me change every day naked. i had no privacy door for my room. this is a human trafficking issue, should be treated as such. reporter: while her testimony struck a chord with the country, legal experts say there s much we don t know about her case her lawyers have yet to petition the court to end the conservatorship. lester erin mclaughlin, thank you. up next, heroic work of the first responders here.