holidays. one of the latest reported cases, u.s. secretary of defense lloyd austin said he was last at the pentagon on thursday but he hasn't seen president biden in almost two weeks. >> hospitalizations are really the thing to watch here. those numbers are climbing at a slower pace. that means vaccines are working despite the faster spread of omicron. and more data coming in from the u.k. in south africa shows omicron infection may not be as severe. >> that's a good thing, but the problem, of course, is more infections in more people gives more chances for the virus to mutate again. only 62% of americans are fully vaccinated right now. that means more than 1/3 of the population is essentially a breeding ground for a new variant and many of those americans are in less populated states with fewer health care facilities. >> yeah. the crush here for the health care workers is just really important to note. another question, why is omicron affecting children more than other variants. here's the former head of the fda. >> it appears to be more of an upper airway disease versus lower airway disease. that's good for most americans but the problem is toddlers who have trouble with upper airway infections. they have more croup and bronchiolitis. we are seeing rising hospitalizations among the pediatric segment. >> a lot of our toddlers have been admitted with those kinds of symptoms and even before, you know, covid a lot of the viruses started off as upper airway viruses but then sometimes could still lead into lower airway. again, our toddlers are unvaccinated so they're extremely vulnerable. >> in new york city nearly 1/3 of ems workers are on medical leave because of covid. the remaining ems workers are under orders not to transport people to the hospital with only flu-like symptoms and no fever. many children head back to classrooms while their parents are bracing for shutdowns. in new york city the teachers' union had asked to go remote to cope with the staffing problems. the new mayor, eric adams, says he feels strongly schools must remain open. paulo sandoval has more from new york. >> reporter: christine, laura, after adapting to the covid era, schools are going to attempt to return to class after the holiday break. some school systems are taking an aggressive approach. in atlanta they're going to start off with remote learning. in d.c. they have to have a negative test before returning to school. we're talking new york city, rather than send an entire classroom that's been potentially exposed to covid home, what they're doing is distributing at-home tests for people who have symptoms or possibly been exposed to a covid positive person. kids who are asymptomatic or test negative will be able to continue at school. kids with symptoms may not attend school until they receive two negative tests. as for kids and staff members who test positive, they'll have to isolate at home for ten days. the whole effort is to try to limit disruptions and allow the healthy kids to remain in staff. we heard from the under secretary of education on cbs urging schools to remain open this spring semester. >> we recognize there may be some bumps in the road this coming week. other discussions on emergency closures are based off of staffing issues. but the goal is full-time in-person learning for our students. they've suffered enough. >> secretary cardona saying there will be in person learning. some schools are saying 5 to 10% of the staff is going to be unavailable. christine and laura? >> this is one of the biggest questions, whether kids are going to school this week, how they are going to school this week and if there are enough teachers to handle it. rapid covid tests are going to be handed out this week week. >> i think we're one of the few states in the whole country that's been able to supply both masks and test kits in advance of returning to school. we're trying to use every mitigation strategy we can to have a good outcome in our schools and this is an important day for us. >> important news. food & drug administration could green light the covid booster shots for kids between 12 and 18. covid concerns are reshaping spring semester plans at more than 30 colleges and universities. >> goldman sachs told its employees to work remotely for the next two weeks to get through this influx of cases. jpmorgan chase and citigroup say the u.s. employees can start the new year working remotely. then there's this. >> hello, dearies. ♪ ♪ >> cast and crew of the prod way musical "mrs. doubtfire" asked to take a nine week, get this, unpaid hiatus. the hope is that will help keep the show financially afloat as audiences concerned about covid stay home. >> work and school are on hold as travel delays mount across the u.s. take a look. more than 17,000 flight cancellations since christmas eve peaking this weekend as thousands of people tried to fly back home. >> there is no space to spend the time on something to eat so it's a long time here. >> las vegas year i was traveling and it was eerie. >> i was there at o'hare, laura, on saturday. the cork is out of the bottle. people are traveling. people want to see their families. they are moving around. travel has picked up. that collided with omicron driven staff shortages, airline staff shortages and weather delays, total mess. canceled across the board on those arrival and departure boards. cnn's ryan young has more. >> reporter: good morning, laura and christine. happy new year. everyone wants to get the new year off to a great start. when you think about all the canceled flights, it's really having an impact across the country. we talked to so many travelers who were frustrated as you can understand about trying to get home. take a look at the video. that's doubled up from across the country where people are trying to get home especially to start work on monday morning. talked to one family of seven who had their flight canceled three times and another couple just hoping to get home. on top of all of this you have to think more than 2500 flights canceled on sunday. more than 2700 flights canceled on saturday. you put that recipe together and you can understand why this family that we talked to was very frustrated. >> in the night going here so far, checking my flight so the lady told me, yeah. so what happened? why? not happy. we no have more solution. >> reporter: we've been dealing with this pandemic for quite some time. one of the things we notice in the airport, people were wearing their mask. they understood why they needed to have some distance as they went through the security checkpoints. at the same time, when you look at the big board, flights going to the west coast you saw a canceled flight could have a ripple effect especially for families trying to get across the country. >> ryan young, thank you for that. meantime, supply chain delays are slowing down medical supplies up to 37 days at u.s. ports. medical supplies are essentially stuck because of all of the congestion with the latest information from the health industry association. recent shipments won't be distributed until february. the new year brings new laws. there is an effect in the u.s. for the eight states you see in red including new york and california. the raises are aimed at phasing in a $15 minimum wage in years to come. what you see in yellow, a step towards $12 minimum wage. for the nine in green including ohio and colorado, those are automatic cost of living adjustments based on inflation. the remaining four in blue, the raises take effect later this year. the federal minimum wage is still stuck at $7.25 an hour. that's the longest americans have gone without a wage increase since the creation in 1938. president biden and progressive democrats have pushed for a $15 minimum. the senate parliamentarian talked about improvement. they'll see increases because their employers raise the pay floor some after prolonged increases. that is the free market at work, laura, when you know companies in order to survive have to pay more. again and again, these states, it is voters in these states when asked about a higher minimum wage, they're voting yes. you're seeing it phased in. >> giving the people what they want. still ahead for you, the first major snowstorm of the season. more than 14 million people under winter storm watches and warnings this morning. we'll tell you how much snow is on the way next. everything felt like a 'no'. everything. but then ray went from no to know. with freestyle libre 2, now he knows his glucose levels when he needs to. and... when he wants to. so ray... can be ray. take the mystery out of your glucose levels, and lower your a1c. now you know. try it for free. visit freestylelibre.us is now a good time for a flare-up? enough, crohn's! for adults with moderate to severe crohn's or ulcerative colitis, stelara® can provide relief, and is the first approved medication to reduce inflammation on 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quite a bit of potency. winds widespread across portions of the south. snow showers even into the early morning hours. we saw them accumulate, northern alabama, metro atlanta. it is a quick-moving system. the energy shifting eastward across western north carolina. some of the higher elevations over the next six hours can pick up 4 to 6 inchessnowfall. you begin to see the snow showers pick up in intensity. potentially bring down as much as 4 to 6 inches before it's all said and done. preemptively, flights. 15 of them canceled. almost 700 across the northeast. that's the mess we're watching carefully. heaviest pockets in the d.c. and into delmarva and this morning and afternoon. >> important to mention the flight cancellations. thanks, pedram. >> a back flip attempt could have ended in a california skier in trouble. watching his friend flip off the edge of a cliff at lake tahoe. >> run. >> yo! >> so he lands deep in that powder upside down and then he doesn't move. they acted quickly 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hill. >> reporter: good morning, christine and laura. happy new year. it's nice to be with you. we are learning new details about the direction of the january 6th select committee's investigation and just exactly who is talking to the committee. specifically investigators are zeroing in on those 187 minutes that trump remained publicly silent. bennie tomorrow p sop and liz cheney the chair and vice chair went on the sunday shows revealing what they were learning. we know as he was sitting there in the dining room next to the oval office, members of his staff were pleading with him to go on television, to tell people to stop. we know leader mccarthy was pleading with him to do that. we know members of his family. we know his daughter. we have first-hand testimony that his daughter ivanka went in at least twice to ask him to please stop this violence. any man who would not do so, any man who would provide a violent assault on the capitol, any man who would watch television as police officers were being beaten, as his supporters were invading the capitol of the united states is clearly unfit for future office, clearly can never be anywhere near the oval office ever again. >> we have significant testimony that leads us to believe that the white house had been told to do something. we want to verify all of it so that when we produce our report and when we have the hearings the public will have an opportunity to see for themselves. >> now this is potentially a significant revelation because it suggests that someone very close to the president is talking to the committee. this is not just someone with secondhand knowledge. it's potentially someone who was in the room with trump as the riots unfolded. what's less clear at this moment is what trump's intent and mindset was during those critical moments and that is something that investigators are still working to determine and are also trying to determine whether or not that rises to the criminal level. bennie thompson did say if they determine a criminal act was committed, they have no problem making a criminal referral to the department of justice and that is something that could be included in the final report, which the select committee is aiming to release this fall. christine, laura. >> melanie, thank you for all of that reporting. president biden and vice president harris plan to address the nation on thursday which marks one year since the deadly insurrection. it's part of a series of events organized by house speaker nancy pelosi. there will be a moment of silence and a prayer vigil. >> almost a year since violent scenes were broadcast live across the country. the current chief of the u.s. capitol police is revealing a stark reality. his force remains short staffed. >> when we looked at the events of january 6th. those things have been addressed and they have been largely fixed at this point. one thing that we have not been able to fix, so to speak, are the staffing issues. we've lost over 130 officers that have left through either retirements or resignations after january 6th. the prior year in 2020 the national federal law enforcement training academy was shut down for ten months because of covid so between not being able to put any academy classes through the prior year with the attrition the way it's been over the past year, we're now really about 400 officers short of where we need to be. >> wow, that's really troubling. more than 700 people in that crowd there have been charged by the justice department in connection with the riot. >> still hundreds more they haven't found. twitter has pulled the pruk on georgia congresswoman marjorie taylor greene's personal account. it has permanently suspended her account due to repeated violations of covid-19 misinformation. the tweet included a misleading paragraph reporting to show deaths caused by covid-19 vaccines completely fact free. the republican who still has access to her congressional account responded with a statement not apologizing but taking a swipe at big tech. >> join jake tapper and anderson cooper inside the capitol with police and lawmakers and leaders live inside the capitol january 6th, one year later begins thursday at 8 p.m. electorlytes and half the sugar. ♪ pedialyte powder packs. feel better fast. good monday morning, everyone. happy new year. this is "early start." i'm laura jarrett. >> i'm christine romans. the first monday in 2022. wow. got to write that on your checks, right? do we write checks anymore? >> 5:30 in the east. time for our top stories to keep an eye on today. the vacation is over. tens of millions of americans head back to work and school today in the face of omicron. that includes more than 1 million students in new york city. more in a moment. >> could have told them to stand down. he could have told them to go home and he failed to do so. it's hard to imagine a more significant, a more serious dereliction of duty. >> congresswoman liz cheney says the january 6th select committee has firsthand information now that ivanka trump urged her father to intervene that day as his supporters attacked the capitol. chairman bennie thompson suggested they assist to varying degrees. >> 14 million people under winter storm watches and warnings in the east. two people are still missing from the marshall fire in boulder county, colorado. president biden has issued a major disaster declaration for the area devastated by wildfires last week and covered with snow. a report from colorado just moments away. nascar is reviewing a new sponsorship deal after xfinity driver brandon brown announced an agreement the acronym to the antibiden chant let's go brandon. brown's team said nascar already gave written approval for the deal. and no longer a buccaneer. tampa bay is cutting wide receiver antonio brown who took off his jersey and stormed off the field. what led up to this and what does his quarterback tom brady have to say. we have your bleacher report coming up. >> that is a big story there. it may be a new year but the questions of covid remain the same. millions of americans are set to return to classrooms and the workplaces now that the holidays are over. tests are still difficult to come by and case counts are breaking records every day. >> it's time for three questions in maybe three minutes. let's bring in doctor alli raja. from massachusetts general hospital. doctor is a professor at harvard medical school. so nice to have you. >> happy new year. >> happy new year. good to see you back. kids headed back to classrooms today. it is on the minds of christine, myself, every other parent who has a child going back to school today. what should schools do to brace themselves for what they know is going to be a potential surge in cases? >> you're so right, laura. i'm really excited about our kids going back to school today, too. first of all, i wanted to thank the teachers and staff. they've been working so hard to make this safe for our kids. what i've been telling our friends, if you have tests, please test your kids before sending them back. if they have symptoms, please keep them home. make some contingency plans. i'm worried about schools having to go remote not because of students getting sick but because of teachers and all the other people in schools getting siblg and having to close things down. >> we've seen in my school teacher shortages. one of my kid's friends had three lunch periods. we have a virtual option that's going to begin -- an option virtual option that will begin wednesday. what do you do monday and tuesday. parents are grappling with this. >> if you are one of the lucky travelers that made it home, wa should you be doing now that you are back. should you go into the office? do you stay home for safekeeping? it seems like some companies are telling everybody stay home for the next couple of weeks? >> christine, it's a good question. it depends a lot on your risk for exposure. if you don't have any symptoms and were taking all of the necessary precautions, you should feel comfortable going back to work. there's no guidance or guidelines that go back. if you were traveling for a big new year's eve blowout and there were lots of unmasked people around and you may have had an exposure and don't know it yet, you should stay home. >> i for one am glad christine romans made it back from chicago. i don't think she was out partying until midnight but who knows. >> i can't stay up until midnight. i don't think any of us -- maybe you can, doctor -- >> i was asleep by 10. >> 9:30, out. some people, doctor, some people still test positive for covid weeks after they've had it. so how can you actually tell if you are still infectious? if you are one of these people who you keep taking a test and it's showing positive but you don't have symptoms anymore, you had it months ago. >> laura, this is tough. the data on this is constantly evolving. for the most part, like the cdc is saying if you don't have symptoms five days out you should be clear. hopefully that will be without a negative test. you might keep testing positive. if you do, wait a full solid ten days. if you are asymptomatic at that point you should be good to go. very rarely some people will keep testing positive weeks and months later. in that case, talk to your doctor. i can tell you at ten days out if you are feeling like you don't have symptoms, you shouldn't be infectious and contagious to other people. >> laura and i have a friend home and the baby has a flu. that's flu season complicating everything. we're all worried about covid. she is testing for covid and then it's just the good old-fashioned flu. it really knocked him out. >> it absolutely does. covid and the flu are both really big deals. the flu has always been a big deal. and because of the fact that right now we are in the middle of flu season, if you do get covid, your body's immune system is going to be weakened and your lungs will be affected and it makes it more likely for you to get the flu. if you can be vaccinated for either or both, you should. >> get your flu shots. all right. doctor, so nice to see you on this new year. thank you. >> thank you. >> happy new year. >> you too. a new year and the fact is the economy roared back to life in the old year, 2021. record new job creation. more than 6 million jobs added back through november. take a look. that's the best first year performance by far of any first-term president since 1970. and economic growth overall is likely to shape up to be the best since the '80s, since the ragan administration. the stock market broke records. the s&p 500 broke 68 record highs. retirement accounts now have all-time high balances. home prices record highs and record home equity. all of this totally at odds with americans pessimistic and questioning the economy. why? covid exhaustion is a big factor. this president doesn't cheer lead the way his predecessor did. remember every time donald trump took credit for stock market highs? this president doesn't do that. number one, the virus. number two, putting the brakes on inflation if it doesn't slow on its own. we're starting the year with inflation levels more than we've seen in decades. several factors at work here. one is the supply chain crunch. as long as it's more time consuming. housing is a big portion of what people spend their money on. if rent eats up a big part of your pi, you may spend more on nonessentials. one thing will ease this, build back better. >> food, housing rental. building back better relieves those costs. it eases those price pressures by helping families pay for child care, pay for education, lower prescription drug cost. it pushes the other way and eases inflationary pressures. >> now what the white house can't control is covid, specifically omicron. if the new variant triggers restrictions and it fleps uncle sam. all of these programs are winding down. they've eerd finished or are ending soon. other possible economic factors in the year ahead. labor shortages that slow the recovery. what if the federal reserve blows it. there's a geopolitical event threatening russia, china, iran which could jack of oil prices and tapping the stock market. all of these things to worry about but last year was a very big year in the economic recovery. such a contradiction. covid contradiction to the biden economy that so many americans don't believe it. >> you're right about the messaging and bragging receipts. this president doesn't engage in that. >> it wouldn't be -- it wouldn't fit either. >> right. that complicates the messaging. >> we head out west as recovery efforts continue in colorado. one of three people missing from that marshall fire has now been accounted for. residents are slowly coming to grips with their new reality after hurricane force winds pushed those devastating wildfires across the boulder area. about half a foot of snow covers homes complicating recovery efforts. hook at that. cnn's natasha chen is on the ground. >> reporter: two people are still missing, one woman from superior and one man from the marshall area. the process to look for them in the burn zone is difficult especially given the extensive debris and destruction. officials point out two missing people out of 35,000 evacuees is quite extraordinary. at the same time, investigators are looking for investigators say a search warrant was done on friday on private property. the winds reached over 100 miles per hour carrying flames through neighborhoods so fast. about 1,000 structures, mostly homes, were destroyed. we spoke to people who lost everything they owned. they had minutes to grab their cell phones, medication. a boulder county commissioner had to macke an escape. he realized it was time to go after winds nearly knocked him over. >> i got in the car and started driving home and got a message from my wife we had an evacuation order. in the meantime i'm told by staff i need to do an emergency declaration. as i was trying to think and collect the papers that i would need to get out, legal papers, all the things, the pictures, the heirlooms, i had to sign the emergency declaration. >> it felt like -- like -- like -- i don't know how to say it. i don't know how to get it out. it just felt like a punch to the stomach and this can't be real. >> many streets are still closed with hot spots still being managed. so reopening subdivisions allowing people to go back and look at their homes has been a slow process. christine and laura, back to you. >> natasha chen, back to you. that's such a beautiful part of the state there. dozens of inmates and workers at a baltimore jail were treated for smoke inhalation. fellow inmates intentionally set fire inside the facility. not clear what caused the fire or what chcharges they could fa. we'll be right back. upgrade to the i iphone 13 po on us. plus get a free yeyear of apple tv plus. only at t-mobile. ♪ three times the 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wireless so good, it keeps one-upping itself. take the savings challenge at xfinitymobile.com/mysavings or visit an xfinity store to learn how our switch squad makes it easy to switch and save hundreds. with thousands of russian troops on the ukrainian border, president biden trying to reassure the ukrainian president. in a phone call president biden told president zelensky they will respond decisively should russia invade ukraine. cnn's nic robertson live in moscow with more here. this telephone call incredibly important. do we know what president biden is suggesting the u.s. and its allies would do? you know, you could isolate russia out of the international banking system. there could be more sanctions. energy industry sanctions? are there any specifics? >> reporter: they're not saying any specifics publicly because that's the idea of the sanctions, i guess, to keep president putin guessing to a degree, but there's also a military component to what would happen if russia invaded ukraine. that is to ramp up nato troops on the eastern borders of europe. that's what president putin wants to avoid. he wants them to roll back the presents in eastern europe. we've gone to see how the u.s. russian talks could go when the representatives sit down a week from now in geneva. that came from president zelensky in ukraine. grateful for that strong support for the united states saying it was important to de-escalate working with european partners. what the white house is saying is you need to do some sort of confidence building measures specifically engage in active diplomacy to implement the minsk ii agreement. this was designed to bring peace to eastern awe crane following the russian-backed separatists rising and continuing confrontation with the ukrainian government and try to secede from ukraine as a whole. that is going to be a point of pressure for the united states on ukraine but an area where president putin might be looking to make long-term gains. >> any response from the russians on this telephone call and the u.s. vowing that the u.s. and its allies would do something? >> reporter: so far nothing specific on that. we do know that russians are saying they're not going to allow it to drag on and they want rapid results. that seems not about to happen. as yet, you know, the russian position is they're not about to invade ukraine. it's the u.s./nato that's in the wrong not the russians. >> nic robertson, so nice to see you. happy new year. another major news outlet in hong kong is announcing it's shutting down. let's get to cnn's ivan watson reporting for us. there's been an aggressive crackdown. was this a preemptive strike of sorts to avoid the kind of raids we saw last week? >> reporter: absolutely. the facebook post that this outlet, citizen news, put out says thank you and so long. five years after this news site launched with some veteran hong kong journalists, it is closing down out of the safety of its team. take a listen to what further one of the news organizations writer's had to say. >> overall media is facing an increasingly tough environment and for those who are being seen as troublemakers, they are more vulnerable so this is what we are facing and that's why we made the decision. >> reporter: so the difficult environment he's talking about, this is the third news organization to shut down in hong kong in six months. apple daily was this big tabloid newspaper that challenged and criticized the government and it was raided by police. its publisher and top editors arrested, sentenced on different charges. millions of dollars in its assets frozen. i watched the printing presses go dark for the very last time there and then just last week police raided another independent online pro democracy news outlet, stand news, arrested at least seven people, seized its assets. what we're seeing here is one of the last remaining voices saying we don't want to take that risk. the government insists it's following through on police work when it accuses them of sedition and national security threats but the writing is on the wall with what's really happening here. >> ivan watson, thank you for your reporting as usual. back here at home, one less headache when it comes to your health care. the days of surprise medical bills are supposed to be over. the no surprise medical bill are supposed to be over. importantly here, that are not in their network. there are 10 million claims of surprise bills. the markets on the first trading days of 2022. asian shares mixed. europe has opened mixed. paris is up. so is frankfurt. stock futures are leaning higher here. stocks ended lower but the year 2021 a banner year for wall street. double digit gains for the year. the s&p 500 alone rose 27%. 70 different record highs. that's the second most new highs ever. laura? >> all right. wide receiver antonio brown's days as a buccaneer are over after he left the field in the middle of a game. andy scholes has this morning's bleacher report. andy, this is crazy. >> it is, laura. i don't think we've ever seen a really good player quit on his team mid game and leave the field and likely end his career in the process, but that's what antonio brown did yesterday. happened in the third quarter gets the jets. mike evans was pleading with brown to try to calm him down but brown pulled off his jersey and pads and threw his gloves in the crowd before waiving to the crowd on the way to the tunnel. bucs head coach bruce arians said he was trying to get brown to go into the game but brown refused twice. so arians told him to, quote, get out. after the game arians said brown has been dismissed from the team. >> he is no longer a buc. that's the end of the story. let's talk about the guys who went out there and won the game. >> we love him. we care about him deeply. we want him to be his best and he won't be with our team. the most important thing about football is the relationship with your friends an teammates and they go beyond the field. you know, i think everyone should be very compassionate and empathetic toward, you know, some very difficult things that are happening. >> now brown did not fly home with the team but he did post on instagram multiple times. one of the items, thanks for the opportunity. he was benched for three games for misrepresenting his covid-19 status. the bucs ended up not needing him. tom brady engineering a 93 yard drive in the final minutes connecting with seal. bucs nice come back, 28-24 the final. the packers will have home field advantage throughout the nfc playoffs. green bay wrapping up the number one spot at a frigid lambeau field. temperature 11 degrees with the wind chill of 1 before kickoff. aaron rodgers making his case that he should be the mvp for a second straight season threw two more touchdown passes in the last six games. rodgers threw 18 touchdown passes without an interception. a scary scene after the eagles beat washington. watch the left side of the screen. philly quarterback jalen hurts walking off the field. fans trying to get a high five when the railing gives way. several fans falling to the ground. appears no one was injured. many of them popped right up to try to get a picture with hurts. hurts helped them up, all smiles taking some pictures. >> i'm just happy everybody's safe from it. happy everybody's safe from it. that's crazy. that's crazy stuff there. that's a real dangerous situation. so happy everybody bounced back from it. it seemed like passionate eagles fans. i loved it. >> laura, fedex field started the season with a pipe bursting and water falling all over the fans and now it ends the season with a railing falling. it could have been a bad situation. luckily everyone was okay. lots of people in washington want a new stadium and they need it. >> they need it badly. scary. thanks, andy. >> all right. sort of sports this morning. a sharp-eyed hockey fan saves a coach's life. nadia papavici noticed an oddly shaped mole on the back of a man's neck. she banged on the glass. red hamilton said he initially brushed it off. he had the team doctor checked it out and discovered it was a malignant melanoma. >> she needs to know her efforts were valid and i'm happy that story is there, not for me but for her because the world needs to know that she's a -- like these -- this woman exists. she's a hero and we need to celebrate her and people like her. >> the canucks are also awarding her a $10,000 scholarship. she starts medical school next year. >> that is just incredible. one, how did she spot it? and that she was even paying attention to some random mole on somebody's neck. >> she certainly has a great future in medicine. >> yes. yes. >> we need people like her. >> absolutely. >> thanks for joining us the first trading day but our first day back here for 2022. i'm christine romans. >> i'm laura jarrett. 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