it s a wallop, although they re surviving it. miserable. an article in the atlantic by an oxford professor jonathan wolf discusses the social contract of living of with this ongoing virus. quote, just as you can drive carefully, you can live carefully during a pandemic wave. if the price of safety is to never go to a bar, restaurant, sports event or performance again, most agree we ve got the balance disastrously wrong. we need to trade off survival against boredom. we cannot expect feem forgo life s pleasures because the domino effect will lead to another sick person in the hospital. how do you mitigate everyday risks in your life? well, i do think we have a social contract with our families and our communities and our friends and co-workers to protect them. and we make decisions in this life that should place our community, you know, very high in our decision-making. so for that reason, people should be vaccinated to lower
case numbers through december into january, as the omicron variant fuels this country s first pandemic wave. australia had long been successful at suppressing widespread disease and widespread death through lockdowns and shutting its borders. but now with vaccination rates for over 60s at 90%, the government is pushing a policy of living with the virus. but there are concerns because the health system, hospitals are under increasing pressure, and it s still unclear precisely when this wave will peak. christine, laura, back to you. all right, phil and everybody, thank you for those reports. to washington now. inflation and a stalled legislative agenda, you can see it in his falling approval ratings. still, in the white house there is hope that a covid recovery could fuel a fast comeback for the president. cnn s john harwood joins us this morning. nice to see you, john.