variant. two weeks ago, we were inside a covid icu at the cleveland clinic and met ron. what would you say to people who think that omicron is mild and it s no big deal? i tell them to walk out the door and they can come and sit in here and see what it s like. he is back home and slowly recovering. but his son has been hospitalized for 71 days. with double pneumonia and covid. what s the lesson that we should learn from what your family has been lieu? i think appreciate family. time is short. he s hopeful his son will be home soon, too. we wish them well. still too many people getting really sick. that was nbc s kate snow reporting. meanwhile, a major address yesterday, the education secretary laid out his top priorities for the year. and visions for reopening america s schools.
face staffing shortages. in california where average daily case numbers are up 27%, l.a. county reported its youngest ever fatality, a 15-month-old baby. in washington state they re averaging more deaths now than ever. nationally, the death rate is still rising. but the average number of daily cases is going down because some states are past their peak or leveling off. experts are closely watching a subvariant of omicron that s now been found in a number of states. early data suggests it is not more severe than the original omicron. it may be a little bit more contagious, and that s what we have to pay attention to and that s what we re learning. does that mean we could look at another wave or an addition to the wave we are already in? i think another major wave is really unlikely out of this subvariant. two weeks ago we were inside a covid icu at the cleveland clinic and met ron. reporter: what would you say to people who think omicron is mild and no big deal?
i m willing to walk out the door and they can come and sit in here and see what it is like. reporter: ron is back home and slowly recovering but his son has been hospitalized for 71 days with double pneumonia and covid. what s the lesson we should learn from what your family has been through? i think appreciate family. tell them you love them. hug them. the times are short. reporter: he is hopeful his son will be home soon, too. nbc s kate snow reporting for us there. let s bring in former fda commissioner dr. scott gottlieb. he s a member of the board of directors at pfizer. help recent book is titled uncontrolled spread: why covid-19 crushed us and how we can defeat the next pandemic. good morning, dr. gottlieb. this all gets kind of confusing, so if you can break down for our viewers where we are. it feels like we re on the back end of this wave of omicron, yet