nawaz, and anthony continetti of the american enterprise institute. welcome to sunday. it s meet the press. announcer: from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, this is meet the press with chuck todd. good sunday morning. every new administration enters office with an agenda of optimism. for president biden, the plan was that covid would be defeated, the economy would fully recover, and he would be able to deliver a return to normalcy, but plans have a way of going sideways. a year into mr. biden s presidency, unemployment is down, wages are up, but inflation is also up to a 40-year high. build back better is stuck at neutral. most important, though vaccines are available and effective, delta and omicron have dealt a one-two punch to the economy, the supply chain, and that promised return to normalcy. and on thursday the supreme
miguel almaguer has the latest. reporter: for a nation on the brink of a covid catastrophe, clear signs of optimism in what appears to be the impending end to omicron dangerous surge as cases continue their steep decline in pockets of the country, new infections are down 14% across the u.s. a climb of new cases over the course of the pandemic reaching peaks and valleys, and now finally after omicron s unprecedented spike, experts say the most serious threat may be over by next month. we d like it to get down to that level where it doesn t disrupt us in the sense of getting back to a degree of normality. that s the best case scenario. while omicron s wave may crest by mid february, its wake is still rippling across the country. every day, more than 2200 americans are still dying. 16 states hit later by omicron have cases spiking by over 100%.
because all our immune cells are back deployed. that means evil. if you test positive, which is possible, severe illness is what the vaccine is intended to mitigate and what they re doing really well. it s poirmtant to take heart because this won t be the last variant. and there s a stud afinding two-thirds of people with omicron have had covid before. so, how common is it to be reinfected? it is appearing that k quite common. and this is the new world we live in. i think all omicron has forced us to reckon in the reality that these vaccines, as good as they are, are not intended to prevent positive tests or mild symptoms. they are intended to prevent severe illness. i ve been saying this from the beginning. that s why we get the flu shot, the covid shot. it s something we should expect as we move forward to winter 2022. dr. van gupta, thank you for
choice. this is just what many businesses said they needed to keep operating. case in point, the airlines, where staffing shortages due to omicron have had a huge impact. today more than a thousand more u.s. flights were canceled. this morning dr. fauci was asked about the potential for vaccine mandates for domestic air travel. tonight he clarified his earlier comments that suggested that was under consideration. it is unlikely that you re going to see that happen in the foreseeable future. when i say it s under consideration, people take the leap and say, well, it s going to happen tomorrow or the next week. we consider all options when we talk about what we need to do for the public health. meanwhile college football fans are taking a huge hit from covid. so far at least three bowl games have been scrapped. this is the second straight year some games are being called off because of the virus. one veteran sports reporter says teams in a lot of sports are now facing questions abo
think again and stick with the government and this is what the health secretary said as he opened the debate at lunchtime. in the debate at lunchtime. in england, ten people are confirmed to have been england, ten people are confirmed to have been hospitalised with the omicron have been hospitalised with the omicron variant and i know that some honourable omicron variant and i know that some honourable members have said that because honourable members have said that because confirmed hospitalisations are low, because confirmed hospitalisations are low, then we don t need to act. but it are low, then we don t need to act. but it is the are low, then we don t need to act. but it is the fact that omicron hospitalisations are low that means it is the hospitalisations are low that means it is the best time to act and we have it is the best time to act and we have seen it is the best time to act and we have seen during previous waves, we have seen during previous waves, we h