cold. >> the handles of my car were all ice. it was-- it was really scary. >> o'donnell: groping charges dropped. the latest in the andrew cuomo sexual assault case after the stunning allegations by his former executive assistant. >> he put his hand up my blouse. >> o'donnell: the fallout from the elizabeth holmes guilty verdict. what the conviction of the former theranos c.e.o. means for silicon valley. and "unifying america": how teaching empathy can help unite a nation. >> this is the "cbs evening news" with norah o'donnell reporting from the nation's capital. >> o'donnell: good evening, and thank you for joining us. tonight, the covid tidal wave health officials warned about is here with the u.s. shattering its single-day record of new cases. and the big concern tonight: pediatric hospitalizations and childhood infections are also setting pandemic records. let fast-spreading omicron variant is being blamed for all of it, with cases doubling every few days. and there is some breaking news tonight up on the of the c.d.c. after facing criticism from top health officials for its guidance for those isolating with covid. there's a new update on what you should do after testing positive. and we're also seeing long lines of people at testing sites. hospitals and their staffs also pushed to the brink. one in ft. lauderdale, florida, was forced to close its maternity ward because of covid-related staffing shortages. and it's not just healthcare. museums and stores are also impacted. macy's tonight announcing it will cut store hours for the rest of the month. cbs' omar villafranca is outside a testing site in fort worth with the very latest. omar, let's begin with that new guidance tonight from the c.d.c. >> reporter: good evening. the c.d.c. said originally you should isolate for five days if you test positive. tonight, they've updated their guidance and say after isolating for five days, if you're still showing symptoms, you should get a test. it's not required, and that's also if you can find a test. these people in this line behind me, they're trying to get one of those tests at one of eight locations here in tarrant county. and what they're finding is not good. the positivity rate here in texas is more than 33%. omicron is omnipresent. the c.d.c. announcing today it now makes up an estimated 95% of all cases nationwide. dr. peter hotez with the baylor college of medicine says omicron may not be as severe as delta, but it is spreading faster. >> well, it clearly is more contagious, more transmissible. and it looks like it's reaching levels that almost approximate measles, which is really the most common highly transmissible virus agent we know. what we'll see is this wave of omicron will ultimately be as serious and dangerous as previous waves. >> reporter: as new covid cases topped one million, covid hospitalizations reach more than 100,000 nationwide, numbers on par with last summer's delta surge. and now covid cases in kids are higher than at any point in the pandemic. only 33% of kids 5-17 are fully vaccinated. more than 325,000 pediatric cases were reported for the week ending december 30, and hospitalizations are at the highest they've ever been. 672 a day, a 114% increase since last week, all as kids head back to school. dr. mary suzanne whitworth of cook children's in fort worth, texas, has watched as more kids are admitted to her hospital. a majority of them unvaccinated. >> over the last two weeks, they've triple and quadrupled in numbers. it's been a rapid rise. >> reporter: the number of patients isn't the only concern. te surging number of cases means healthcare workers are also getting infected and can't report to work. >> and that's the danger point of omicron is that one-two punch of people still coming into hospitals, and not enough healthcare providers to take care of them. >> reporter: with the holiday weekend over, people from california to texas, to new york are waiting in long lines to take a rammed or p.c.r. test if they're available. >> i spent two days trying to find a place. >> reporter: because of surging cases, more than 215 school districts across the country have switched over to remote learning. in chicago, there might not be any classes tomorrow if the teachers' union votes tonight to refuse to go to work in person. norah, that is the nation's third-largest school district. >> o'donnell: omar villafranca with all those details. thank you. well, president biden addressed the american people today amid the unprecedented surge in covid cases and he said the federal government is investing more into the fight. cbs' ed o'keefe is at the white house with the new details. >> reporter: with millions of kids heading back to school this week and several hundred thousand starting remote learning, president biden weighed in. >> we have no reason to think at this point that omicron is worse for children than previous variants. we know that our kids can be safe when in school, by the way. that's why i believe schools should remain open. >> reporter: to deal with the spike in omicron cases nationwide, the president said he would double the purchase of pfizer's antiviral pill from 10 million to 20 million, with the first half available by june. it's proven 89% effective at preventing severe illness and death. >> they're a game changer and have the potential to dramatically alter the am impact of covid-19. >> reporter: but the administration still gets low marks on how it's handling the pandemic, a persistent concern is access to testing. >> i called around. so it's hard to find somewhere to go. >> i spent two days trying to find a place. >> i know this remains frustrating. believe me, it's frustrating to me. >> reporter: there is a sense among many that the country has lost control of the virus. would the white house agree with that? >> we would not. we're in a very different place than we were a year ago, ed. 200 million people are vaccinated. we have also just purchased the largest over-the-counter purchase of tests in history, 500 million tests. >> reporter: burt the details of that bulk purchase of tests won't be sorted out for a few more weeks, meaning it could be several more after that before americans get those tests as long lines for tests persist nationwide. norah. >> o'donnell: ed o'keefe, thank you. tonight there's some good news after an epic travel nightmare on one of the busiest corridors in america after a dire 27 hours, virginia transportation officials say the road is clear of drivers and no one is stuck on i-95. cbs' errol barnett has all the latest reporting. >> we've been in the car for about 17, going on 18 hours. >> reporter: this was the nightmare on i-95. >> i have never been this frightened on the road before. >> reporter: 40 miles of virginia interstate came to a standstill after more than a foot of snow blanketed the region. >> there is nothing moving on interstate 95. it is a parking lot. >> reporter: among them, virginia senator and former democratic vice presidential candidate tim kaine, stranted for over 26 hours. >> the only thing i ate was one orange, and the only liquid i had was one 16-ounce dr. pepper. >> it's been 21 hours. >> reporter: stephanie rodriguez kept her six- and 11-year-olds warmed by covering them with clothes packed in their luggage. >> the handles of my car was all ice. it was really scary. >> reporter: officials blame heavy rain that fell ahead of the intense snow, preventing them from treating the highway. by 2:00 a.m. today, the road was completely shut down. there were no reports of any deaths or injuries, but elsewhere, there were five storm-related deaths, including two children who died when trees crushed their homes in virginia and tennessee. hundreds of thousands of virginia customers are still without power. and more than 4600 flights have been canceled since monday, in part due to the storm. >> found a flight from american to get to chicago today, and then jumped back on united coming to d.c. so we can get a car and drive to richmond. but, apparently, the roads are shut down. >> reporter: now, tonight, virginia officials report all stranded passengers along i-95 have in fact been rescued. but a major portion of the freeway south of where i am in springfield remain closed so workers can scpract remove the more than dozen stranded and abandoned vehicles there. so, norah, it may just be a few more hours before the entire stretch of this key highway for the mid-atlantic is fully open. >> o'donnell: what a story. errol barnett, thank you. well, just three days before form of andrew cuomo was set to appear in court to answer a misdemeanor charge that he forcibly touched an aide. the charge is dropped. jericka duncan explains what happened. >> reporter: latest criminal investigation into former governor andrew cuomo has come to an end. the albany county district attorney's office found the accusers, brittany commisso, to be cooperative and credible, but said after the review of all available evidence, "we have concluded we cannot meet our burden at trial." back in august, commisso, a former executive assistant to then-governor cuomo, publicly accused him of groping her in an office in the executive mansion. >> he put his hand up my blouse and cupped my breast over myself bra. >> reporter: cuomo was scheduled for his first court appearance this friday to face the charge of forceable touching. cbs news legal analyst rikki klieman. >> the fact that it was dismissed by the district attorney, despite the credibility of the accuser, is monumental news. >> reporter: but cuomo maintained he never touched anyone inappropriately. he stepped down shortly after a report was released, accusing him of sexually harassing multiple women. >> the best way i can help now is if i step aside. >> reporter: the albany d.a. is now the fourth prosecutor to decide not to pursue charges against cuomo. do you think the outcome of this case discourages other alleged sexual assault victims out there? >> i have no doubt that other women will be sexually assaulted and have legitimate claims may just feel it is useless to go forward. >> reporter: cuomo's attorney says she has no comment. as for brittany commisso's attorney, he says that his client will continue to seek justice through civil action. norah. >> o'donnell: jericka duncan, thank you. well, there's breaking news tonight from here in washington. congressional investigators looking into the deadly assault on the u.s. capitol want to talk to fox news host sean hannity about his communications with former president trump and his top advisers on the day of the attack. also today, three more police officers sued the former president for their physical and emotional scars from that day. one year later, cbs' kris van cleave looks at the toll on the capitol police force. >> reporter: almost one year on, the u.s. capitol police department is still recovering and changing its tactics in an increasingly violent political climate. chief tom manger: could a january 6 happen again? >> the short answer is i don't believe so. but there could be a situation where something unexpected happens that we're not prepared for. we've got to be in a posture where we think of everything, and that we try and prepare for everything. everything. >> reporter: we gained executive access to new capitol police training efforts, part of the wholesale changes under way. key intelligence is now being shared with rank and file officers and field offices have been opened in florida and california to help respond to threats against lawmakers, about 9600 last year alone. but the department still needs to hire 400 more officers, about 130 left the agency last year. >> the threat level is much higher than it was a year ago. >> reporter: how big is the risk that something slips through the cracks? >> we're managing at this point, but if we want to really get to a point where we want to be, where we should be, it's going to take more time to get more people in place. >> reporter: low moral has been a challenge. roughly 140 police officers were injured by rioters on january 6, attacked with bear spray, flag poles, fire extinguishers, even table legs. >> every day for me has been a january 6. >> reporter: sergeant aquillino gonell is still recovering from his injuryes after he was almost crushed to death battling the angry mob. >> if we don't put a deterrent and hold people accountable for what they did, this will be a recurring issue. >> reporter: congress has passed millions in mu funding to bolster the capitol police, but ohio democrat, tim ryan, who chairs a committee with oversight of the force, says there's more work to do. >> you know, we've taken some positive steps in the right direction, but there's a hell of a long way for us to go. >> reporter: in addition to the events planned here at the capitol to mark the anniversary on thursday, former president trump had planned a press conference in florida. tonight, he canceled it. norah. >> o'donnell: all right, kris van cleave, thank you. former theranos c.e.o. elizabeth holmes is out on bond tonight, awaiting sentencing after being found guilty on four of 11 fraud charges. she faces 20 years for each of the four convictions. cbs' anna werner reports on the fallout for the silicon val valley... >> reporter: elizabeth holmes seemed the golden girl of silicon valley but now stands convicted of fraud and conspiracy and molly wood, a journalist turned investor, says today, many in silicon valley's tech circle are feeling like they dodged a bullet. >> there is a lot of, like, few! thank goodness that we didn't get in on that. >> reporter: holmes gathered a cast of high-profile investors. >> rupert murdock. >> reporter: plus oracle's larry ellison, former education secretary betsy devos' family, and board member general colin powell, all led to believe holmes' company, theranos, had developed revolutionary technology for blood testing as she told norah o'donnell in 2015. >> o'donnell: what about those who say that's not enough blood to do all the tests that need to be done especially if somebody is very sick and you're trying to figure out what it is. >> every time you create something new, there should be questions, ask to me that's a sign that you've actually done something that is transformative. >> reporter: as former theranos employee tyler schulz told "cbs morning's" today. >> elizabeth holmes is a very charismatic person. >> reporter: he contacted state regulators about problems inside therkangering his grandfather, former secretary of state, george schulz, of theranos' director. >> she was found guilty. i feel like i won. i'm indivated. >> reporter: this landmark trial change the behavior of companies and investors in a culture described as fake it until you make it. >> that does not mean our industry should be asking hard questions of the people we give money to. >> reporter: anna werner, cbs news, san francisco. >> o'donnell: there is breaking news tonight. we are just learning that north korea has fired what could be a ballistic missile. that's according to the japanese coast guard. now, if confirmed, it would be the first such test by the north korean leader kim jong-un in the new year. still ahead, a historic first in the u.s. navy. to be...unstoppable. that's why millions rely on the strength and financial guidance of prudential who's your rock? ♪♪ my daughter has? type 2 diabetes and lately i've seen this change in her. once-weekly trulicity is proven to help lower a1c. it lowers blood sugar from the first dose. and you could lose up to ten pounds. trulicity is for type 2 diabetes. it isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. it's not approved for use in children. don't take trulicity if you're allergic to it, you or your family have medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. stop trulicity and call your 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people together when they seemingly disagree on just about everything? cbs news chief medical correspondent dr. jon lapook went looking for an answer in tonight's "unifying america." >> reporter: as our country struggles for ways to bring people together, the word "empathy" seems to be everywhere. >> it's trying to see things from inside their world. >> reporter: u.c. berkeley professor jodi halpern has been studying empathy for three decades. >> you know you're having empathy when you find yourself listening in a way that makes you feel them as a human being. >> reporter: patients who say their doctors are empathetic are more likely to follow their advice. that's why medical schools are teaching empathy as a core skill. at nyu langone health, where i'm a professor of medicine, our empathy project produces short films to teach clinicians to be more competent by practicing empathy. >> how do you pronounce it? >> reporter: our latest focuses on how difficult it can be for a black woman to be seen and heard. >> if you really want to empathize, you have to try to imagine how the world sees her and how she assumes the world sees her. >> the number one thing about empathy is don't project your experience on to other people. >> reporter: during reconciliation efforts after international conflicts, empathy has helped people recognize their shared humanity. so might might empathy be used as a tool for reconciliation right here in the united states? >> nobody feels as good about living in this country with the fragmentation and conflict. empatic curiosity begins with you don't have to see it my way. what do you need to rebuild? >> reporter: and after asking those questions, listening with empathy. dr. jon lapook, cbs, news, new york. >> o'donnell: something we can all have more of. we'll be right back. with clearer skin and less itch. hide my skin? not me. don't use if you're allergic to dupixent. serious allergic reactions can occur, including anaphylaxis, which is severe. 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