challenging times. >> live from cnn center this is cnn newsroom with michael holmes. >> and we begin with the continued threat of the omicron variant in the u.s. and urgent pleas from top health experts for americans to get vaccinated and boosted. new numbers show why that is important. according to data from the cdc, unvaccinated people are 20 times more likely to die from covid than people who have been fully vaccinated and boosted. only around 30% of fully vaccinated americans, around 60 million people, have gotten a booster dose. now, this comes as the u.s. is heading into what will likely be a brutal winter surge as the new variant spreads across the country. the delta variant already driving a surge in covid cases and hospitalizations and omicron will only add fuel to the fire. we're already seeing impact in some areas. long lines for covid tests have been forming across new york city as americans try to balance holiday plans with covid safety. >> we need to flood the system with testing. we need tests available for anyone who wants them particularly when we're in a situation like right now where people are going to be gathering even though they are vaccinated and boosted it is going to be a tough few weeks to months as we get deeper into the winter. >> we are also seeing the impact of the latest surge in other ways. on sunday u.s. senators elizabeth warren and cory booker both announcing they tested positive for the virus. both say they are experiencing only mild symptoms. we have a team of reporters spread out across the u.s. cnn's natasha chen is in los angeles where officials say they're seeing covid cases starting to go up. we have a report from atlanta on the covid outbreaks in sports including the nfl, nba, and nhl. but first to new york where cnn's paulo sandoval reports on another record case count for the state. >> reporter: for three days new york state has seen significant increase in the number of new covid cases, a record number of cases confirmed throughout the state. we have heard optimism from the new york city mayor bill de blasio on sunday saying the bringing back of several of the mitigation efforts, also the increase of numbers, yes, it is happening right now. it is a new reality. it is a temporary one. when you speak to new yorkers there is a concern and fear things are possibly going to get worse before they get better. we've seen massive crowds at covid testing sites throughout new york city. people who are trying to at least secure an appointment to get those tests. it is a requirement if they'll be traveling soon but for many, almost everybody, they want to be tested. they want the extra peace of mind though the majority are vaccinated. >> i had a couple friends vaccinated and also catch covid so trying to be safe for the family. >> to be safe. you never know. even if you're vaccinated you can still get it. it is better to know. >> as recent at last week new york city announced a multi-point approach designed to slow the spread, increasing the number of places where people can get vaccinated and tested and making those home kits available for those who are not able to stand in line for hours at a time. the big advice coming from officials not only in new york city but the country for the segment of the population not vaccinated to get the shot and get boosted and get tested. polo sandoval, cnn, new york. los angeles county public health has reported quite a rise in number of daily confirmed cases just in the past week. for example, on tuesday, there were about 1100 positive test cases but by the weekend on saturday and sunday, both seeing more than 3500 positive covid cases and on sunday the number may be low because of the lag in weekend reporting. within just a week's time frame we're seeing the tripling of numbers. in california, overall, the positivity rate is still under 3%, which is relatively low compared to some other states but california health officials did notice a rise in covid positive cases in the days following the thanksgiving holiday into early december. and that is why the state implemented new policy beginning december 15th to last about a month before the policies are revisited. there are three important things there. one is that everyone is required to wear masks indoors across the state. two, people are required to show proof of vaccination or negative test to enter a megaevent, defined as either a thousand people indoors or 10,000 people outdoors. finally, people traveling into california are recommended to get a covid test three to five days after they arrive in the state. already some events are being canceled just like across the country due to positive cases for example a ucla basketball game, even production of the christmas carol downtown in los angeles. because of positive cases within those groups. schools including stanford are also transitioning to virtual classes after the winter break is over here in southern california. ucla, cal state system, saying they will monitor the situation for students after they come back from the winter break. back to you. normally this time of year would be a great time for sports fans. you've got college hoops, college football, nfl, nhl, nba, so many things to watch and enjoy. but instead, it feels a lot like the very beginning of covid-19 pandemic with so many of those games being postponed or canceled. let's start with basketball. the nba today on sunday canceling some of its games sunday and monday postponing those games for a later date because of covid-19 and we're talking about big named superstars on the brooklyn nets like kyrie irvin and kevin durant out. we're even seeing that with college basketball. 20 men's basketball games and 36 women's basketball games canceled or postponed so far this year. from the basketball court to the gridiron an nfl sunday double header turned into a showdown between the new england patriots and indianapolis colts. so many players are out on the covid-19 reserve list. more than 20 for the cleveland browns, rams, washington football team and the nfl saying this past weekend they are having new protocols for asymptomatic, fully vaccinated players. they are not going to test them on a regular basis but moving to a more targeted approach, a big change coming from the nfl. the nhl making a big announcement sunday saying it will postpone 30 games between december 18th and 23rd including cross border games. so remember the nhl has teams in canada and the u.s. and are citing concerns over federal restrictions and travel concerns over the border and that is the news coming out of the nhl this weekend. cnn, atlanta. >> the surge of the variants is forcing european governments to take drastic measures. england's national health service has approved plans to treat 15% of covid patients at home in what they are calling virtual wards as medical experts warn almost 50,000 health care workers in england could be sick with covid by christmas day. irish health officials say nearly 52% of new infections there are the omicron variant. it has taken less than two weeks for omicron to become dominant in ireland with germany requiring its citizens and residents returning from the uk to quarantine for two weeks germany adding the uk to its travel red list on saturday. thousands gathered in brussels to protest the government's covid restrictions there. in october belgium imposed rules requiring people to show covid passes to enter bars and restaurants. while the types of protests continue in parts of europe, the netherlands has imposed one of the toughest lock downs on the continent. >> reporter: a collective sigh in the netherlands as some of the strictest new covid-19 measures went into effect on sunday to try to contain the highly contagious omicron variant. acknowledging it is not the christmas many people wanted the dutch prime minister urged people to stay home as much as possible and said nonessential shops will be closed until january 14th and schools shut until at least january 9th. for many it was a frustrating announcement that dashed many holiday plans just days from christmas. this man says we've done everything we could and are fully vaccinated and in the end it all goes in the wrong direction. before the lockdown went into effect long lines of shoppers rushed to the stores for last-minute christmas shopping. the government also cracking down on how many people can attend holiday gatherings only two guests allowed in a private home. with the exception of christmas eve, christmas day, the day after christmas, new year's eve, and new year's day when four are permitted. previous coronavirus measures have been unpopular with violent protests erupting in november. this weekend police clashed with small groups of protesters as thousands of people demonstrated in brussels and there were protests in london, paris, and germany. many european countries are considering reimposing new covid-19 restrictions. the threat of omicron much greater than the pockets of discontent. italian media reporting the government could soon make masks mandatory outdoors and require negative tests for vaccinated people to enter crowded public venues. denmark is set to close cinemas, theaters, and museums and will limit the numbers of people in stores and shops. one resident said it is a bleak way to end the year. >> seeing all of the countries slowly starting to shut down, some of them even completely shut down. it is a little bit depressing. >> no country wanting a lockdown before christmas but omicron may make further restrictions unavoidable. cnn, rome. still to come on the program u.s. senator joe manchin says he won't vote for the build back better plan. the president's top legislative priority. details of the swift and angry reaction from democrats in washington coming up. also why one expert on foreign civil wars believes the u.s. might be closer to its own such war, closer than you would like to think. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ ♪ this is how we shine. ♪ find the perfect gift at zales. the diamond store. ♪ you've got to try a little kindness ♪ ♪ yes, show a little kindness ♪ ♪ just shine your light for everyone to see ♪ ♪ and if you try a little kindness ♪ ok, let's talk about those changes to your financial plan. bill, mary? hey... it's our former broker carl. carl, say hi to nina, our schwab financial consultant. hm... i know how difficult these calls can be. not with schwab. nina made it easier to set up our financial plan. we can check in on it anytime. it changes when our goals change. planning can't be that easy. actually, it can be, carl. look forward to planning with schwab. schwab! ♪ ok everyone, our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy. whoo hoo! ensure, with 27 vitamins and minerals, now introducing ensure complete! with 30 grams of protein. such tree-mendous views. i'm at a moss for words. when a cough tries to steal dad's 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announcement that was made. congresswoman barbara lee of california tweeting that she was infuriated and disappointed that those who would be losing out would be the care givers and she said primarily black and brown women, children, poor, homeless, not to mention the climate. many provisions to protect the climate also in that bill. at the same time we heard from republicans almost uniformly senator john cornyn describing it as an early christmas gift that this was a bill that was reckless and costly. we have seen this play out for months and months now. senator manchin at the center of all of this as his colleagues, progressives and moderates, have tried to bring him over and convince him he is the lone stand out they need to pass sh legislation to in fact for it and see what he would find acceptable. they started off as a $6 trillion price tag to this. they cut it down to $3 trillion. then about $1.75 trillion. the latest complaint from manchin was that the child tax credit extended for one year. he said well if you extend it ten years it will be a lot costlier and the cbo, congressional budget office actually scored it as such but the democratic colleagues came back and said. >> first, the bill you have before you is a one-year extension not ten. that is a hypothetical. and, secondly, the cbo didn't take into account any kind of revenue generating mechanisms that might also be proposed and kick in during that period. they said it wasn't a valid complaint. there are some of his colleagues, those who are most angry and frustrated are now saying they don't even believe manchin negotiated in good faith. >> i hope that we will bring a strong bill to the floor of the senate as soon as we can and let mr. manchin explain to the people of west virginia why he doesn't have the guts to stand up to powerful special interests. if he doesn't have the courage to do the right thing for the working families of west virginia and america let him vote no in front of the whole world. >> i spoke with senator durbin before they went on recess and he said he joked that if they went home to egg nog and fruit cake maybe they'd come back with better attitudes and be able to negotiate. he was optimistic they would strike a deal sometime early next year. and i asked him why. he said, well, this is because the american people need this legislation. they are in desperate need of this. but, clearly, that argument did not hold up for senator man chen and the question becomes whether or not there is a piece of this bill that could be taken out, a stand alone portion that perhaps manchin and even some republicans would support. suzanne malveaux, cnn, at the capitol. >> the rigid refusal by lawmakers to compromise underscores the disturbing findings of one study on democracy in the u.s. according to a "the washington post" editorial data from the center for systemic peace finds the u.s. no longer technically qualifies as a democracy. after the trump administration years. it is somewhere between a democracy and an autocratic state. barbara walter is a professor of international relations at the school of global policy and strategy at the university of california san diego. she joins me now and i am delighted. when we look at the research it is frankly frightening and you conclude that the u.s. is, quote, closer to civil war than any of us would like to believe. how close? >> well, i've been studying civil wars for the last 30 years across the globe and, in fact, the last four years i've been on a task force run by the cia. that tries to preappendectomy where outside the united states civil war, political violence, and instability is likely to break out. we actually know now the two best predictors of whether violence is likely to happen are whether a country is a partial democracy and whether ethnic entrepreneurs have emerged in a country that are using racial, religious, or ethnic divisions to try to gain political power. the amazing thing about the united states is that both factors currently exist and they have emerged at a surprisingly fast rate. >> what is remarkable is the research isn't based on sentiment but metrics and markers and signs and facts that the u.s. uses to determine the state of other countries' democracies and proximity to upheaval. if the u.s. were looking at another country and saw these signs what would be the u.s. evaluation of that country? >> the u.s. would look at that country and we would put that country likely at risk. we, quote-unquote, risk of civil war. the united states is pretty close to being at high risk of civil war. once a country is at high risk the task force puts it on what we call a watch list. countries that the agency wants to watch very closely because they believe sometime in the next few years that country is at high risk of descending into instability or political violence. >> wow. i think most americans automatically assume, truly believe democracy is sacrosanct in this country, the system is solid and safe and impervious. what do you say? how do you punch through complacency? >> what i say to them is we all wish that the united states was a strong democracy. we all see it that way. the reality is just not true. the united states has been declining as a democracy for the last five years on every measure. there are multiple different data sets that measure democracy in various different ways and all of them have shown america in decline and, in fact, the main measure that the task force uses to predict political violence comes from a data set where they have actually classified the united states for the very first time as an anocracy not a full democracy, not a partial democracy. some people call it a hybrid democracy. fareed zakaria has called it -- it is certainly not on par with countries like switzerland or canada or denmark or japan. we are considered, we are no longer considered the world's longest democracy. that ended in january of 2021. >> can such ships be easily turned around? is there a threshold countries cross where you can't go back and how close is the u.s. to that threshold? >> one of the things we know is countries that experience one civil war is significantly more likely to experience a second and third civil war. political scientists call that the conflict trap. we've done a lot of research on the conflict trap to find out how countries can escape it. the united states already had one civil war. how can we ensure it doesn't have a second one? we know the countries that escape this trap invest in good governance and double down on democracy. if they don't do that those countries tend to experience repeat violence over time. >> as someone said the other day, the french probably didn't expect their revolution until it happened either. we should make clear, when you talk about a civil war you're not meaning like the old one where battle fields and things like that. what would it look like? >> one reason why most americans can't conceive of another civil war in the united states is because they are thinking about the old type of civil war. they're thinking about large armies and gray and blue uniforms, meeting each other on battle field. that is the 19th century civil war. 21st century civil wars do not look at all like that. they tend to be decentralized and fought by lots of small factions, militias, paramilitary groups who use different types of tactics, insurgency, guerrilla warfare, terrorism. if a second civil war happens in the united states it is going to look very different from the first and it is going to look more like a siege of terror. think about northern ireland. think about the palestinian-israeli conflict. that is the type of violence we're likely to see here in the united states. that violence can last for decades and be almost equally as destructive. >> a hard genie to put back in the bottle. it is scary but a conversation that needs to be had. as you say, the ingredients are pretty obvious. professor, i wish we had more time. we do not. thanks so much. >> it is my pleasure. thank you very much. at 35 years of age, he'll become the youngest president of chile in modern history. ahead reaction to his big win over the far right candidate when we come back. season's greetingngs from audi. 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(vo) visible. switch and get up to $200, plus our best ear buds, on us. music ♪ ♪ come together. ralphs club. the new fragrance. ralph lauren. welcome back to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm michael holmes. you are watching cnn newsroom. turning our attention to chile where gabriel boric's supporters are celebrating his presidential victory. at 35 years of age, the former student activist turned legislator will become the youngest president of chile since the country's return to democracy in 1990. far right presidential candidate jose cast conceded on sunday evening. boric will replace the outgoing president who is set to leave office in march. the election is one of the most polarized in decades and comes amid social unrest in chile over inequality and political discontent. we'll go live now to santiago where we've been covering this election. in the end it was a clear win for the left. >> reporter: yes, michael, how are you? it was clear and it was quick and less than two hours after polls closed the losing candidate jose antonio kast already conceded and shortly thereafter the current president had reached out to gabriel boric not calling him on the phone. that is old fashioned now but through a video conference call televised nationally and congratulated boric and also said he was very proud of the election itself which had a massive turnout. the challenge now is that boric made a lot of promises that may prove hard to keep. let's take a listen. he made a lot of promises during the campaign. is he going to be able to deliver? >> he is going to have a very hard time. he is confronting a dead locked congress. he has a convention, it is not clear what role the communist party will play in his coalition, whether the socialist party will join. he has a difficult economic situation. we are coming out of the pandemic. as you say he has made a lot of promises that cost a lot of money. many things coming out of the constitutional convention are social and political rights are likely to have an effect on fiscal spending and so he is going to have a hard time meeting all of that. >> michael, more than 8 million people cast their votes sunday. boric won with 55% of a vote. let's not forget jose antonio kast obtained 44%. there are many unhappy people. boric will face a divided congress and legislators on the right who were supporting kast during the campaign may make boric's life very difficult once he takes office in march for a four-year term. >> great coverage there in santiago. big day for chile. thanks. well, the chinese tennis star peng shuai is walking back allegations of sexual assault if a new interview. we'll have the response from the women's tennis association in a live report from tokyo coming up. ♪ just shine your light for everyone to see ♪ ♪ and i if you try a little kindness ♪ ♪ ♪ what a pain in the a— —alice? 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>> reporter: well, michael, this marks the first time peng shuai has publicly spoken to international media about the sexual assault allegations and in the interview she denied the reconciliation. she was speaking on the sidelines of a cross country skiing event in shanghai to a singaporean chinese language news outlet. she said in the video in the interview, quote, i want to emphasize one thing that is very important that i have never spoken or written about anyone sexually assaulting me. this point is very important to be emphasized clearly. in terms of the post first of all it is my personal privacy. there possibly has been a lot of misunderstanding. photos of her at the event were posted by chinese state media reportes including this video of her talking with former chinese nba star yao ming talking and smiling there. in the interview she also said she has been living at home in beijing and denied that she's been under any kind of surveillance. but despite this appearance and others global concern for her safety and well-being persist. this controversy all started after she alleged in a 1600 word post dated november 2nd that in the past she had been sexually assaulted. she had experienced sexual assault by a former chinese vice premier. the post was quickly censored and the topic of the discussion has been blocked in china's heavily censored internet. after that she disappeared from public view for nearly three weeks and later appeared in posts and videos and photos from chinese state media reporters and the ioc also said it held two video calls with peng shuai though the video calls have not been made publicly available. even after this appearance, the wta continues to press for an investigation and said in a statement, quote, as we have consistently stated these appearances do not alleviate or address the wta's significant concerns about her well-being and ability to communicate without censorship or coercion. we remain steadfast in our call for a full, fair, and transparent investigation without censorship into her allegation of sexual assault which is the issue that gave rise to our initial concern. the wta said earlier in the month it would suspend all tournaments in china because of concerns over treatment of peng shuai. with winter olympics less than two months away in beijing cline has not directly commented on the initial post but china's foreign ministry has said it, quote, opposes the politicization of sports. chinese authorities have not acknowledged peng shuai's allegations and there is no indication an investigation is under way, michael. all right. thanks. selina wang in tokyo with the very latest. appreciate it. a russian and european space probe may have discovered a surprise perma prfrost on mars. the orbiter found the ground in the central area was emitting a high level of neutrons, something typically seen in wetter soil. the findings suggest that up to 40% of the near surface material in the area could be water. it amounts to an enormous quantity because it is ten times longer and 20 times wider than the earth's grand canyon. pretty sure i said that wrong. thanks for watching. appreciate your company. i'm michael holmes. world sport is up next for international viewers. for everyone else here in the united states i'll be back with more news after the break. i brought in ensure max protein, with thirty grams of protein. those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks! 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>> absolutely not, michael. at the very beginning of the pandemic, i could see clear trends in terms of emotional functioning, you know, among my patient population. and it was unfortunate that they -- honestly, i wish they could talk to one another because at the beginning of the week, you know, there was a theme as if, like, anger for the week or depression or people are sad and people are exhausted, and they felt so isolated. and so, you know, at the beginning, it was -- i really, truly wished that there was like a forecast of some sort to let people know, you know, basic emotional, like, processes like depression often follows anger and things of that nature, to kind of get yourself ready. if you're feeling this, then this may come next. >> preparation, yeah. no, i can understand that. one of the worrying aspects -- and there are many -- of this survey is nearly 1 in 3 clinicians said it could take at least three months to get an appointment, or they didn't have room for any new patients at all. have you seen that level of demand? >> absolutely. everyone i know in my network is either at capacity or near capacity. and so, you know, it's really unfortunate. and, you know, my take on it is that, you know, in the short term, of course, we need more clinicians and we need more mental health services and to have people be able to access those mental health services in affordable ways. but the long-term solution, i believe, is not necessarily more clinicians. it's really focusing on teaching people -- students would be the great, children on up -- basic emotional -- you know, information about emotions. >> yeah. >> so, you know, so people know what emotion -- so people can normalize emotions for themselves. >> right. >> and so -- yeah. >> as i was reading the study, the survey, it struck me how are therapists coping? because you all seem to be under it. you've got the workload, the sort of things you're hearing. who counsels the therapists? >> most therapists are in therapy, or they have had robust therapy in the past. and so that's a major source of support for therapists. we also have consultation groups we're part of, and therapists are notorious for saying yes to requests. and so therapists have to -- i think this pandemic really highlighted the need to set boundaries and to engage in self-care and to -- and to, you know, basically try to protect our careers and ourselves from burnout. >> right. what would be your advice for someone who's watching right now, perhaps feeling overwhelmed, depressed, or whatever, and can't get in to see someone like you? what would you say to them? >> right. well, you know, i would say that -- so barring really significant symptoms that indicate serious mental illnesses, like that needs -- you know, if someone is experiencing that, they need attention, and they should go to their private care doctor or urgent care or something like that. barring that kind of situation, i would say that people -- it would be very useful if people don't pathologize, that they allow themselves to feel anxious and all those things as opposed to engaging in mental behaviors that suppress those emotions because it just makes it worse. >> i want to ask you this too. has at least discussion of mental health because of the pandemic at least had the benefit of perhaps destigmatizing the issue a little? >> absolutely. northwest of my patients are first-timers, and it's a really wonderful thing. and so, you know, the phones are ringing off the hook, you know, so yes. >> and also are you treating people who you may not have seen if not for the pandemic? i guess has the pandemic exposed underlying issues for people, magnified them, brought them to the surface, relationships, too much of the kids and so on? >> mm-hmm. absolutely. so one way to think about the, you know, symptoms that people have is that they -- it's a stress model. i won't get into it too much, but basically someone could be predisposed to a condition and faced with a certain environmental stressor, that condition may manifest. so i do believe that some people, because of the stress of the pandemic, are now manifesting issues that they were predisposed to manifest. so that is a subset. but i also believe that there are a lot of people who, one, they pathologize their own emotions, normal emotions that people experience under stressful situations. then they're coming to therapy for these reasons. and so for that group of people, i don't necessarily think they would have sought therapy. but then again, it's a biased sample. people who seek help are people who tend to seek help when they reach a certain point. >> such an important issue. needs to be talked about. thanks for the work you do. >> thank you so much, michael. now, if you're thinking about suicide, you're worried about a friend or a loved one, or you would like emotional support, the u.s. national suicide hotline is 1-800-273-talk. again, that number is 1-800-273-8255 in the u.s. and for international resources, head to save.org. thanks for spending part of your day with me. i'm michael holmes. you can follow me on twitter and instagram @holmescnn. do stick around. i'll be back with more news in just a minute. season's greetings from audi. before nexium 24hr, anna could only imagine a mfortable night's sleep without frequent heartburn king her up. now, that dream... . ...is her reality. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts, for all-day, all-night protection. can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn? ♪ you've got to try a little kindness ♪ ♪ yes, show a little kindness ♪ ♪ just shine your light for everyone to see ♪ ♪ and if you try a little kindness ♪ because you're forever connected by love... two touching center diamonds, representing the connection you share. forever connected. the perfect gift to give this holiday. exclusively at kay. emergency planning for kids. we can't predict when an emergency will happen. so that's why it's important to make a plan with your parents. here are a few tips to stay safe. know how to get in touch with your family. write down phone numbers for your parents, siblings and neighbors. pick a place to meet your family if you are not together and can't go home. remind your parents to pack an emergency supply kit. making a plan might feel like homework, but it will help you and your family stay safe during an emergency. omicron is surging with major holidays just around the corner. health experts echoing get boosted now. also -- >> i cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. i just can't. >> joe manchin says he's made up his mind on biden's build back better plan, and democrats are furious. but america's internal conflicts don't stop there. i speak with a guest on how close the united states is to civil war. hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. i'm michael holmes, and this is "cnn newsroom.

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