super bowl of gadgets. how the pandemic is ushering in a new era of personalized tech. this is nbc "nightly news" with lester holt, reporting tonight from washington, d.c. good evening, everyone we're here ahead of tomorrow's solemn observances of the one-year anniversary of the attack on the capital. tonight we'll take you inside a still very active investigation but we want to start with that other calamity that just won't leave us, covid. breaking tonight, the cdc panel recommending booster shots for kids 12 to 15 that's welcome news. at the same time, the cdc finds itself facing backlash over some of its other recommendations. concerning how long those who have tested positive for covid should isolate and whether a negative test should be required to end that isolation. some wondering whether some of the decisions at the agency are being driven by science or by the shortage of rapid test kits tom costello is covering it all. >> reporter: breaking tonight, a cdc panel now recommending a single pfizer booster shot for 12 to 15-year-olds five months after their second dose. it comes after the fda approved the shot on monday full cdc approval is imminent meanwhile, with new covid cases up 98% in just one week, the omicron surge forced another major event, this time the grammys, to postpone. the january 31st show now on indefinite hold as hospitalizations are up 63%, deaths up 5% to 1,200 each day most of those patients never vaxxed. >> without a doubt, unequivocally, we are dealing with a highly highly transmissible variant that spreads rapidly. >> reporter: the good news is that research shows that vaccines and boosters offer strong protection. but the cdc is also under fire for offering confusing mixed messages on its own isolation guidance tracking back to december with omicron raging, a national shortage of test kits led to hours long waits at testing sites. rising cases led to massive workforce shortages and airline cancellations. businesses, including delta airlines on december 21st, called for shortening the recommended isolation period for the vaccinated who test positive six days later the cdc did just that, cutting the isolation time from 10 to 5 days. cdc director walensky said she was worried people would not stay home. >> people would feel well enough to be at work they would not necessarily tolerate being home and that they may not comply with being home. >> reporter: but walensky did not recommend people get a negative antigen test before leaving home. today she insisted the national shortage of test kits did not play a role in that decision. >> this has nothing to do with the shortage of available tests because you can see in our quarantine guidance that we actually do recommend a test for people to emerge from quarantine. >> reporter: a former covid advisory board member says the test kit shortage was really a factor. >> that's really about the availability of these rapid antigen tests. and they do remain in short supply across the country. >> reporter: many sympathetic health professionals worry the cdc is confusing the public and undermining its own reputation. >> i'm very concerned about the cdc towing the line of whether or not we're basing our guidelines on supplies, whether we're basing our guidelines on economics or whether we're basing our guidelines on science because it always should be rooted in science. >> tom, the american medical association just weighed in, criticizing the cdc's recommendations. >> reporter: the ama says that the recommendations are confusing and the lack of a testing component, it says, could cause this to spread even further. hundreds of thousands of people returning to work while still infected, lester. >> all right tom costello also here in washington. all of this causing severe disruptions in the nation's schools a domino effect on teachers, students and parents as omicron spreads and testing falls short. and moments ago an announcement in chicago abou schools tomorrow after they were closed today with little notice stephanie gosk has late details >> reporter: classes in chicago closed again tomorrow the city and the teachers union unable to reach an agreement. >> i will not allow them to take our children hostage >> reporter: late last night, chicago school boards abruptly slammed shut, upending the lives of hundreds of thousands of chicago families >> we had all winter break to have this planned out, and here we are the kids are kind of caught in th middle and parents like myself are really scrambling to get coverage. >> reporter: concerns about soaring covid cases and about limited testing, chicago's teacher's union voted to go remote. >> i have a 90-year-old grandmother with underlying health conditions and issues. and so i would appreciate being able to work in an environment where at least the students are all pcr tested weekly. >> reporter: city officials called the union's decision a work stoppage and canceled school altogether, a clearly frustrated mayor speaking out. >> we can't forget about how disruptive that remote process is to individual parents who have to work >> reporter: this first week of school after the holiday has seen a dramatic jump in school disruptions. more tha 4,500. back in october there were 28. still small compared to a year ago. but omicron is straining school systems to their limits rapid tests are hard to find. pcr results are delayed. >> if you do not have adequate testing, you cannot keep a school open safely unless you accept the risk that potentially as high as half of your students could be positive and not know they are. >> reporter: most school age children can get the vaccine. but just over half of 12 to 17-year-olds are fully vaccinated that drops to less than 16% for 5 to 11-year-olds teachers and staff are out sick in record numbers. today the superintendent in boston jumpe into action, teaching a fourth grade class herself. >> just excited to be here today to represent all of the incredible all hands on deck approach that we're taking here. >> reporter: unlike at the start of the pandemic, there is a much more concerted effort to keep children in classrooms >> there are some people right now who believe keep the schools open at all costs. is that really tenable? >> no. keeping the schools open at all costs means that you are not acknowledging that all costs involves lives >> reporter: for school districts just holding it together, the outlook for january is bleak experts say case numbers will likely keep going up for weeks. lester >> reporter: all right. stephanie gosk in new york thanks. in philadelphia tonight, a community is in mourning after a devastating house fire killed at least 13 people, including 7 children the mayor calling it one of the most tragic days in that city's history. ron allen is there >> reporter: cries for help awakened neighbors around 6:30 a.m. as fire erupted from the three-story row home converted into apartments in a neighborhood where a lot of families with children live. >> i passed by that house for years now and seen the faces it is just sad. you know, what might have happened. >> reporter: authorities provided the death count late tonight. 8 children and 4 adults >> please keep all these folks and especially these children in your prayers. losing so many kids is just devastating >> reporter: investigators say smoke detectors that passed inspection last spring failed to work, that the building had just two first floor exits and that 26 people appeared to be living in the building officials say the fire apparently started in a second floor kitchen and swept up the building's stairwell. >> nothing slowed down that fire down that fire was moving feeding on contents, feeding on oxygen and feeding on fire. >> reporter: throughout this community shock and grief as investigators try to figure out how something so unspeakable could happen lester >> ron allen, thank you. just as folks here in the mid-atlantic recover from this week's crippling winter storm, another one is on the way. al roker is tracking the snow and the cold. al, what's ahead >> bitter windchills tonight, lester, from the plains all the way to texas for 15 million people windchills could be upwards of 50 degrees below zero 78 million people under some sort of winter weather advisory coast to coast as the next storm races through the appalachians bringing snow from tennessee to pennsylvania and off the coast by friday. but a slick morning commute on friday down to charleston where they could see 4 to 8 inches of snow 2 to 4 inches in new york city. and the great lakes could be looking at lake effect snow up to a foot lester >> okay, al. thank you. one year ago tomorrow, just behind me, the capital was a virtual war zone as rioters tried to disrupt the presidential vote count. the fbi is still trying to identify people who stormed the building the largest investigation in its history. pete williams has an exclusive look at that effort >> reporter: a year after the worst attack on the u.s. capital since the british torched it 200 years ago, the fbi hasn't stopped working to identify rioters this exclusive look shows agents and analysts still combing through tens of thousands of photos and videos investigators also used facial recognition software and cell phone records that allowed them to plot the movement of individual people inside the capital, the largest use ever of that technique. >> the attacks happened all over the capital grounds. >> reporter: the man in charge of the fbi's washington field office says the priority now is identifying the rioters who attacked police, like this man using a long probe to administer shocks. it's giving them an electrical jolt? >> correct. >> reporter: so that must be painful. >> i would imagine it would be, yes. it would be like my taser. >> reporter: or this video of a man beating a police officer with a long pole. >> that also in particular right there just hit him in the head. >> reporter: or this one showing one of the rioters spraying a chemical at officers. >> he gets rid of it, throws the can in, grabs the riot shield and starts beating the officers >> reporter: people have sent in hundreds of thousands of tips reacting to photos and videos like these posted on the fbi website. tips have even come from ride share drivers and waiters. >> we have had restaurant workers turn somebody in because they overheard them talking about it. >> reporter: federal criminal charges have now been filed against more than 700 people and about one-fourth of them have pleaded guilty but a big question remains unanswered was there actually a plan well in advance to storm the capital or was it a case of seizing the moment >> it does matter in terms of a record history, to get a sense of what this event was all about. was it a perfect storm of failure of security, extremist kind of all coalescing around the capital or was it something greater. >> reporter: members of the far right proud boys and oath keepers have been charged with conspiracy, but they court documents say they were preparing for violence in the streets. and the fbi has yet to figure out who planted two pipe bombs last january 5th at republican and democratic national headquarters no breakthroughs so far despite releasing surveillance video showing the suspected bomber that night on capitol hill why don't you know yet who placed these bombs the night before >> they're covered from head-to-toe they have a hoodie on, glasses, a mask, gloves you know, fully clothed. >> reporter: the fbi has even compiled this map showing the bombing suspect's movements that night what do you see in the video of that person what are they doing? >> you know, the person is walking down this road here. >> reporter: one bomb was placed just outside the democratic office entrance. pretty close to that corner. >> yeah, pretty close to that area right around there >> reporter: tonight attorney general merrick garland says the justice department is committed to holding everyone accountable at every level who was criminally responsible for the riot, whether they were at the capital that day or not. lester >> pete williams tonight. thank you. and in 60 seconds, our alarming look inside the movement trying to overturn the election and growing concern about the midterms dterms. vacuum.. . is such a hassle. uchhh!!! so now we use our swiffer sweeper and dusters. the fluffy fibers? they pick up dust easily. grabbing it in all those hard-to-reach places. gotcha!!! and for our floors, sweeper's textured cloths lock all kinds of dirt, dust and pet hair. unlike my vacuum, it sneaks under and around places. look at that!! dust free and hassle free. stop cleaning and start swiffering. my name is douglas. i'm a writer/director and i'm still working. in the kind of work that i do, you are surrounded by people who are all younger than you. i had to get help somewhere along the line 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theory promoted by former president trump claims president biden did not actually win the 2020 election. that's not true. key swing states re-check their vote totals georgia counted its ballots three times to be sure. a republican-led audit in arizona affirmed president biden's win there and courts rejected dozens of flimsy legal challenges put up by mr. trump's ally and, yet, nearly three-quarters of republicans polled by nbc news now agree with what's known as the big lie. what are the biggest warning signs that are flashing to you right now? >> all of this is no longer about 2020. it is about the next election when the loser doesn't like the outcome of the result, being able to more easily claim victory. >> reporter: colorado's democratic secretary of state jena griswold points out it is positions like hers, a state's top elections official, that keep the guard rails in place. but this year about two-thirds of republican candidates for that position in key swing states have questioned the results of the 2020 election. >> the next time a candidate wants to reject the actual results of an election, it will be easier for them to do so that's what this is all about. >> reporter: some of those secretary of state candidates backed by mr. trump, who has endorsed mark stinson in arizona. >> by removing the fraud, donald trump won. >> reporter: election denier christine caramo in michigan >> that makes us feel like they're completely stealing the election from the american people. >> reporter: and jody hice in georgia, a congressman who led an objection to his own state's results. >> we have lost election integrity in georgia. we have lost election confidence in georgia. >> reporter: and that georgia race highlights what's at stake. hice, who declined our request for an interview, is challenging the current secretary of state brad raffensperger, the man who famously resisted mr. trump's pressure to overturn georgia's election results >> i just want to find 11,780 votes. >> reporter: raffensperger's refusal protected the legitimate results in georgia but he's been outfund-raised by hice is this the gop that you want to be a part of here? >> i think that we need to realize that we have honest and fair elections, particularly in georgia. >> reporter: before november 2020, most republicans polled by nbc news thought their vote would be fairly counted. now fewer than half do, showing why the stop the steal movement is so problematic. >> it shouldn't be controversial to say if i cast my ballot for this person, then my ballot should be counted for that person that should be the least controversial thing in american democracy that has somehow become horrifyingly partisan. >> reporter: the big lie eroding confidence and our democracy. hallie jackson, nbc news washington. >> we're back with more right after this. outlast. because you are greater than your bipolar i, and you can help take control of your symptoms - and ask about vraylar. some medicines 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100% accurate payroll tax calculations guaranteed. the world's number one tennis star ha the world's number one tennis star has been denied entry to australia over his covid vaccination status novak djokovic initially received an medical exemption to defend his title at the australian open. after he arrived his visa was canceled. official says he failed to provide evidence to meet the strict entry requirements djokovic is expected to appeal the decision. also tonight, the world's biggest tech show kicked off today on a smaller scale due to the spread of omicron. here's jo ling kent. >> reporter: the future has landed at cdx and it wants to lend you a hand. from futuristic robots that wait on you to an avatar named sebastian. >> when you need me, i will show up in a nearby screen. >> reporter: carries out tasks in the metaverse. the pandemic ushering in a new generation of personalized tech to help transport us into a virtual world like a smart contact lens putting you into augmented reality, a battery free thermometer that charges with a few shakes and a smart faucet that warms up with the wave of a hand after years of testing the coolest tech in person, i went to see this time a little differently. >> it feels like i'm in las vegas at cds in person but surprise, i'm actually here in los angeles nearly 300 miles away i'm being beamed into las vegas with portal technology it's 3d holograms that get me there the idea is to offer more human interaction when face time or zoom doesn't cut it. what more do we really get out of this? >> when you beam somewhere, you no longer have to book your flight. you don't have to book your hotel you don't have to worry about coronavirus. >> reporter: an ideal future that for some is already here. jo ling kent, nbc news los angeles. >> we're back with more right after this. ss? come on! question, is that an “s” or a “5”? think it's a 5... i thought so. argh! frustration...loading. 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