causing more than a thousand deaths a day across the united states and it is delta variant that is currently causing the surges across the north, northeast, and the rest of the country. it is absolutely a matter of maintaining the same precautions we've had since the get-go of covid but also preparing for the potentially more transmissible variant of omicron but today the thing in our headlights needs to be stopping delta. >> on the omicron front, dr. anthony fauci says so far, signals are encouraging, at least anecdotally based on what they're seeing but clearly more is needed. considering how often guard the united states seems to be with delta, are you concerned people aren't taking omicron serious enough at this point? >> you know, it's a tough moment for us, phil, in public health. we don't want to raise unnecessary alarm. omicron may not turn out to be something serious but at the