during the commute. the next storm moving across the country set to hit new york city, philadelphia, the northeast. tonight, at this hour, 30 states from california all the way to the east coast already under winter alerts and ginger will time it all out. tonight, the cdc under growing scrutiny after suggesting people infected with covid could leave isolation after five days without any test to make sure. well, what the cdc is now saying tonight about a test five days later, and dr. jha is standing by. we ask him, what kind of test is actually best to know whether you might still be contagious? the major headline involving former new york governor andrew cuomo tonight. what the albany d.a. has now decided on whether to prosecute the case. the court battle involving prince andrew unfolding here in new york. the continuing fallout involving jeffrey epstein and what the judge has now signaled today. tonight, the house committee investigating the attack on the capitol now asking to speak with fox news host sean hannity about text messages he sent to former president trump's former chief of staff mark meadows in the days leading up to january 6th. jon karl tonight with the text one alleged text from hannity before january 6th saying, "i'm very worried about the next 48 hours." the horrific and deadly crash involving two north carolina state troopers. two brothers. one trooper answering the call to help his brother when it turns tragic. tonight, the deadly fall at hawaii's kilauea volcano. the park visitor that fell in at the volcano's edge. and news tonight, the reigning "jeopardy!" champ who says she was robbed. and her message tonight. good evening and it's great to have you with us here on a tuesday night. and tonight you that 27-hour nightmare is just now over. authorities in virginia late today saying hundreds of drivers who were still trapped all day today are now off i-95, hopefully home and warm tonight and not a moment too soon, because two more storms are now moving in. one hitting aisle-95 tomorrow morning. freezing rain. and then another storm right across the country. new york city and the northeast getting ready. but tonight, we are thinking about all of those drivers and families trapped in their cars. as i mentioned, hundreds of them. look at the images all day today. still trapped in their vehicles on that stretch of i-95 in virginia, after a number of trucks jackknifed in the storm. several inches of ice, covered in deep snow. it came quickly. so many drivers spending all night last night in their cars. then watching the sun come up and then in their cars for much of this day today, with little or no food or water. and, of course, real worries about when their gas would run out. temperatures below freezing. overnight, the traffic taking all day to clear. tonight, as you can imagine, there are still abandoned vehicles everywhere. and the chaos not just on the roads. more than 200 act tram passengers traveling from new york, new orleans -- new orleans to new york were stuck on an amtrak train for more than 30 hours. look at the map tonight. two storms now on the move and right now, the winter alerments coast to coast. first up, that system that will hit i-95 again tomorrow. and then that cross-country stop, snow, heavy winds and rain. ginger is standing by to time all of this out, but first, the misery and, of course, the major questions tonight, how did all of this happen? abc's kenneth moton leading us off from fredericksburg, virginia, tonight. >> reporter: tonight, more than 27 hours sbhs into th nightmare on i-95, there are still cars still abandoned on the highway. >> vehicles starting to run out of gas. food, water is an issue for some of these people. >> reporter: it started with multiple tractor trailers jackknifing near fredericksburg, virginia. as temperatured plummeted below freezing, travelers like kimberly gibson and her family desperate for information. >> our cell phones don't work. internet goes in and out. so it's -- we've just been sitting here. >> reporter: the virginia department of transportation calling the situation unprecedented. >> been in this spot for seven hours, almost eight hours? >> reporter: even virginia senator tim kaine was stuck. >> this is my daughter next to me having what's left of our snack stash. >> reporter: jennifer travis and her family able to get off the interstate, only to get stuck along an alternate route. >> we can't get out, all of the side streets are congested. everything is red. we're tired. we're exhausted. we have been on the road since 2:00 in the afternoon yesterday. >> reporter: forecasters predicted up to a foot of snow in the region and the first major winter storm of the season delivered. >> we were not able to pretreat our roadways before, and this is due to the rain. the rain would have washed all of our chemicals and salt off the road. >> reporter: and it wasn't just cars. an amtrak train from new orleans to new york, stranded in lynchburg. resuming its journey late today. >> all right, let's get to ken moton, live in virginia tonight. and kennette, i know officials were pressed late today and they said they were just overwhelmed by the speed of this snow, the ice and the storm and how quickly it came flu? >> reporter: that's right, david. and officials say the ice underneath was four inches thick. at one point, they had troopers out checking on stranded drivers. officials say that when it comes to the reopening of that stretch of i-95, they think it will happen by the morning rush, but there is freezing rain in the forecast, david. >> all right, be careful tomorrow morning. kenneth, thank you. and speaking of that freezing rain, let's get to ginger zee, tracking the next two storms. and ginger, i know first up is what kenneth just mentioned, the freezing rain coming to i-95 again in the coming hours. >> reporter: we're barely going to have time to catch our breath between storms this week, david. let me take you to that map. this is going to be deceiving, too, because it doesn't come as soon, it comes as rain, hits super cool below freezing surface, it creates that ice rink effect. then you look west and i say, whoa, what is coming? warnings all the way back to the cascades, where they anticipate two to three feet of snow. blizzard warnings in the eastern dakotas and western minnesota and behind all of this, even more arctic air. as if that wasn't enough, that low is going to slide up the gulf coast and into the northeast by friday morning, so, anybody, again, from virginia, maryland and delaware up to boston will have to be on the lookout friday for measurable and accumulating snow. we'll have more details on that as it comes, david. >> we'll be watching you first thing in the morning on "good morning america." thank you. in the meantime, we're going to move onto the pandemic and the cdc under growing scrutiny about that reck menation for people infected with coe videoand are asymptomatic. they said, if you get covid, to isolate for five days, but there was not any guidance to get a test. tonight, what they're now saying about tests, saying you can get one after five days, but that if you get it and it's negative, you should still take precautions. so, dr. jha is here, what does this all mean tonight? and what kind of test is best to determine whether you're still contagious? and of course, all of this comes as the u.s. now averages nearly half a million new cases a day. the cdc estimating 95% of them are now omicron. the lines for testing are growing even longer. tonight, president biden announcing he will double the purchase of pfizer's new covid pill, that anti-viral pill, the first of its kind, now 20 million doses purchased, though most won't be available until after this current surge. it comes as hospitalizations among children now soaring, record numbers. at texas children's hospital, for one, the numbers quadrupling there in a month. so, as i mentioned, dr. jha is standing by here, but first, our chief national correspondent matt gutman. >> reporter: tonight, the cdc under growing scrutiny for recommending that people infected with covid end isolation after five days without a test, now giving new guidance yet again, for americans who can and want to test. if it's positive, isolate another five days. if negative, leave isolation, but wear a mask and avoid high risk activity. the cdc says a negative rapid test does not guarantee you can't spread the virus. >> this is all about the fact that there's just not enough tests. they do work to eye dent goin day jousness. the reality is that if every american had access to five tests at home, we wouldn't be having this conversation. >> reporter: omicron is now making up 95% of cases in the u.s. and today, the president telling unvaccinated americans they have reason to be alarmed. >> some will die, needlessly die. unvaccinated are taking up hospital beds and crowding emergency rooms and intensive care units. >> reporter: and the president today announcing he was doubling the purchase of pfizer's covid-19 anti-viral pill, from 10 million to 20 million treatments, but the majority of those treatments won't arrive until well after the latest model suggests omicron begins to resolve in march. that comes as a record 1 million covid cases was reported just yesterday, driven by a holiday backlog and skyrocketing demand for testing. and across the country, long lines. and for some, longer waits for lab results. >> right now, if you want a pcr test, it's like a week wait, because they don't have enough equipment for testing. >> reporter: in los angeles, the country's second largest school system, parents are now scrambling to get their kids tested after the district ordered mandatory testing before a return to the classroom next week. is it hard to find tests outside of the ones that are offered by the school? >> we have one of our hospitals, kaiser, but my sister got tested there, but it took her five days to get her results. >> reporter: those at-home tests in short supply. california's governor promised to deliver 6 million kits, but many families are still waiting. and some schools are opening without them. the state blaming winter storms for shipping delays. in boston today, more than 1,000 teachers and staff out. >> we are getting to a point where that is a tremendous strain on every classroom, on every school. >> reporter: and across the country, more than 3,500 schools have gone to remote learning or delayed a return to in-person classes. and 30 million eligible children have yet to get a vaccine. and the number of children going into hospitals quadrupling over the last month. >> we have staggering numbers here during this omicron surge already. it seems almost exclusively we're caring for unvaccinated adolescents. >> reporter: 17-year old halie mulanax was unvaccinated and is now fighting for her life on a ventilator. she delivered her first child, a girl, by c-section. but has not been able to meet her. >> she has never seen her baby girl. and she's never touched her. and that is heartbreaking. that's tough. and i can't wait to see my baby girl holding her baby girl. >> so many stories of families still going through this, as omicron sweeps the country. matt gutman back with us tonight. and matt, i know the white house was pressed today on the president's promise to send out a half billion home testing kits this month, he mentioned that to me in the interview at the white house just a couple of weeks ago. what did they say on that today, how soon can we expect them? and then the other question on these test kits at walmart and kroger, the prices now going up after that agreement with authorities is now over? >> reporter: david, when the president spoke to you, he said he hoped to begin shipping out those 500 million tests by the end of this month. the white house now seeming to shift that timeline, saying it now hoping to receive those 500 million test kits by the end of this month. as for those at-home rapid tests, a deal between kroger and walmart, three-month deal to sell those test kilts at $14 each, has lapsed. they are now raising the prices by as much as $10 a kit. david. >> just when so many families need these test kits. matt gutman, our thanks to you. i know there's been a lot of confusion on the cdc guidance. the cdc shortening the isolation period from ten days to five, but at first not suggesting a test to make sure before you leave isolation. so, i want to bring in dr. ashish jha, the dean of brown university school of public health and our friend. dr. jha, great to have you back tonight. late today, the cdc clarifying their guidance, stating that if and individual has access to a test and wants to test, the best approach is to use an antigen test toward the end of the five-day isolation period. so, this still doesn't say they're saying you should test, perhaps they're aware of the testing problem in this country, the fact that we can't get kits everywhere in every part of this country. you have said folks should test and, again, help clear up confusion here. what kind of test is best to know if you're still contagious after that five-day period? >> good evening, david. thanks for having me back. the first five days after you test positive is the most important to isolate. that's when people are most contagious. the test that's useful after five days is one of those rapid antigen tests and what we know is that it's a very good test for picking up contagiousness and if you have two of those that are negative, very, very good information that you're not contagious anymore. >> again on that cdc language, they say if you choose to test, but you have said that you should after five days? >> i have, because i think what cdc is feeling is the constraint of the fact that most persons can't easily get a test, so they don't want to make a recommendation that people can't follow. but from a science point of view, getting a test is the right thing to do. >> which brings us back to the testing kits in this country and we'll continue to put pressure on this. dr. jha, thank you. we're going to move onto the other news tonight and the house committee investigating the attack on the capitol, now asking to speak with fox news host sean hannity about text messages he allegedly sent to former president trump's former chief of staff mark meadows in the days leading up to january 6th. one alleged text from hannity before january 6th saying, "i'm very worried about the next 48 hours." here's jonathan karl with the texts. >> reporter: tonight, the house january 6th committee is asking to speak to fox news host sean hannity, describing him as a de facto adviser to former president donald trump. the committee already has dozens of text messages hannity exchanged with former chief of staff mark meadows and others. on december 31st, a week before the insurrection, hannity seemed to warn meadows that top lawyers at the white house were on the verge of resigning en masse to protest trump's plans to overturn the election. he texted, quote, we can't lose the entire white house council's office. i do not see january 6th happening the way he is being told. on january 5th, the day before the insurrection, the committee says hannity seemed to sound the alarm, texting, "i'm very worried about the next 48 hours." >> let's go! >> reporter: and the next day, those fears were realized. during the riot, hannity texted meadows, quote, can he make a statement, ask people to leave the capitol? that night on fox news, hannity condemned the rioters. >> all of today's perpetrators must be arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. >> reporter: and days after the riot, hannity wrote meadows and congressman jim jordan, describing a difficult conversation he had just had with trump. writing, quote, he can't mention the election again ever. i did not have a good call with him today and worse, i'm not sure what is left to do or say and i don't like not knowing if it's truly understood. >> so, let's bring in jon karl again tonight. and jon, the committee is asking for hannity to, quote, voluntarily co-op rate here. any word if he will? just putut a statement, saying they are evaluating the request from the committee and saying, quote, we remain very concerned about the constitutional implications, especially as it relates to the first amendment. they say they will respond as appropriate. so, no answer yet from hannity, david. >> jonathan karl with us from washington. thank you, jon. and with the january 6th anniversary on thursday, my interview with the officers who defended the capitol, one year later. what they're asking of their leaders in this country, and the one word that came up repeatedly in this interview. that airs tomorrow night right here on this broadcast and later tomorrow night on "nightline." we turn next here tonight to the court battle involving prince andrew unfolding here in new york. the continuing fallout involving jeffrey epstein. lawyers for prince andrew arguing for a dismissal of a civil lawsuit accusing of him sexually assaulting virginia giuffre when she was 17. they claim a 2009 lawsuit between giuffre and epstein alleged that giuffre was sexually exploited. prince andrew's legal team saying the 2009 settlement between her and epstein that ended that lawsuit prevents her from suing the prince because it applied to, quote, potential defendants. her legal team says terms of that settlement do not apply to the prince. the judge today calling both arguments reasonable and saying he will decide soon. now, to the case involving former new york governor andrew cuomo tonight. the albany district attorney announcing he will not prosecute the former governor for allegedly groping a the allegation, was to be arraigned on friday. the d.a. now saying he found the complainant credible, but that it would be difficult to prove the case in court. the albany criminal charge was the only one to result from a report by the new york attorney general's office that found that cuomo sexually harassed 11 women. a very busy news night height. when we come back, the highway tragedy involved two state troopers. one trooper crashing into his brother. and then the reigning "jeopardy!" champ revealing she was robbed. in if dupixent has your moderate-to-severe eczema, or atopic dermatitis under control? 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alright, no more talking about parking lots. a lot of these are compact spots. it's not pretty. progressive can't protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. we still planning to head out around the third quarter? let's not talk about leaving before we're actually at the game. there is news coming in tonight after a deadly crash involving two brothers, both north carolina state troopers. authorities say trooper james horton was responding to a traffic stop in rutherford county, to help his brother who was already on the scene when he lost control of his vehicle, slamming into his brother's police car. his brother and the driver who had been pulled over were both killed. james horton has been treated for minor injuries. and authorities tonight hawaii's kill wail ya volcano. the body of a 75-year-old man has been recovered from a closed area of the national park. authorities believe he fell about 100 feet from the viewing area. they say people have been visiting the park at night to see the glowing lava lake from that volcano. when we come back here tonight, news coming in about the reigning "jeopardy!" champ who says she was robbed. 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[ sneeze ] are you ok? oh, it's just a cold. if you have high blood pressure, a cold is not just a cold. unlike other cold medicines, coricidin provides powerful cold relief without raising your blood pressure be there for life's best moments with coricidin. now in sugar free liquid. finally tonight, the truck driver's simple act. america strong. it was the nightmare more than 27 hours long on i-95. and tonight here, the angel in his truck. john left his truck, walking up to the car stuck right there in front of him, asking, would you like a warm meal? right here tonight -- >> hey, how's it going? >> reporter: on why the small act of kindness made the difference. >> as truckers, we have the resources. we have water, we have food. >> reporter: and we wondered, what was the breakfast? >> jimmy dean breakfast bowl. these are really good. tasty. baconi bacon, egg and cheese. >> reporter: breakfast from the guy in the truck behind you. >> just knowing i could step out and lend someone a land like that meant a lot to me. >> the light in the middle of the storm. i'll see you tomorrow. good >> we're in the middle of another wave of covid-19 cases. >> san francisco's mayor says it's in the middle of the search. when they expect cases to peak and what it will mean for schools. >> events being postponed, stores cutting back on hours, courts postponing trials, trials going back to virtual learning. good afternoon. case surge in san francisco. officials say hospitals, city services and the economy will experience a greater strain in the upcoming weeks. larry: we are live in the newsroom with how the city expects all of this to unfold. reporter: i think the director of the health department some that up best. omicron is facing a wall of immunity as it moves through san francisco. hospitalizations are low, but the key is to keep those first responders from getting sick at the same time. how to keep cities or was is running despite the omicron variant is of concern to the mayor. as of today, there are 168 police officers and 135 members of the fire department in quarantine. >> frontline