0 that is it for us at 5:00 and we will see you back here captioning sponsored by cbs >> tonight covid cancellations. hundreds of flights cancelled from coast to coast this holiday weekend as airlines face staffing shortages amid an om o kron surge. >> i'm lilia luciano at la comrks where the holiday travel rush continues here and across the country. >> also tonight safety measures with covid numbers rising in a majority of the country. the concerns over how to stop the spread. >> i'm in new york city, whereas you can see behind me many people are lining up to get covid tests after the holiday get togethers. >> plus the passing of a human rights icon, the lasting legacy of archbishop desmond tutu. >> we will be free! >> and 5g fallout. the battle between government agencies amid lingering safety questions. also going green. environmentalists rewriting the ending on this christmas tradition. and later, neon nostalgia. >> there is just not enough demand. >> how hong kong is shining a light on a fading art form. >> this is the cbs weekend this is the "cbs weekend news" >> good evening, i'm meg oliver in new york, jericka duncan is off. for a second year in a row covid is causing headaches for holiday travelers across the u.s. new infections spreading like wildfire have sparked staffing shortages resulting in long delays and cancellations. new cooed vid infections exceeded 200,000 a day over the past two weeks. that's up 69 percent. covid deaths are on the rise too. cbs's lilia luciano leads use off with a look at post holiday travel, lilia, good evening. >> good evening to you, meg. it it st another very busy travel day here at lax more than 200,000 people are expected to pass through today alone. a lot of those flyers unhappy with these delays and cancellations cutting into their vacation time. one woman was telling me if she had driven instead of flown she would have made it to her destination yesterday but is still stuck here. covid cancellations hit u.s. airports for the third straight day with more than 700 flights grounded, stranding passengers on one of the bus yetion travel weekends of the year. >> cuts vacation short, christmas vacation. we have to it be back for work. so it was supposed to it be, you know, a nice family vacation, meeting up with other family up there. so it is upsetting. >> what did you tell the airlines. >> that it was wrong, they should have let us know earlier. >> thousands eager to take flights found themselves facing cancellations and delays as airlines had more sick calls and staffing shortages. delta and united with some of the most planes grounded pointed to omicron exposure as a cause. major airports affected including new york's kennedy, atlanta, lax and newark, new jersey. but despite the cancellations more than 3 million took to the skies since christmas eve. >> there's been a lot of pent up demand. people haven't seen their families and friends for two years. we are seeing record number of passengers coming through since post pandemic numbers. >> the cruise industry is also facing covid disruptions. at least three cruise lines had outbreaks on brd in less than a week, with dozens of passengers testing positive and forced to quarantine. >> they were cleaning and everything was sanitizing. i think personally they had too many people on board. >> travel blogger austin hamawy was on the msc sea shoor. >> not being able to see my family for christmas. >> and more cancellations are expected on domestic and also international flights. adding to that frustration, and the anxiety for flyers with the fast spreading omicron variant is the difficulty to social distance. one passenger was telling me she felt very vulnerable seeing so many people not wearing masks on flights and also walking around terminals. >> a lot of anxiety, lilia luciano, thank you. now to the surge in the omicron covid var yantd. one in four hospitals with icu's reportedly 95 percent capacity this week. and the omicron spike shows no sign of slowing. cbs's tom hanson joins us now from new york with more, tom, good evening. >> hey there meg, good evening to you, with just a week left in the holiday season, the omicron var yantd is bearing down across the country and health experts are sounding the alarm over a post holiday covid surge, especially among the most vulnerable. >> because i need to know, for the safety of my job and everyone else around me. >> testing lines wrapped around the block in washington d.c. where omicron cases have skyrocketed. there are similar scenes from los angeles to new orleans. one recent study suggests that omicron cases on average have as much as a 25 percent reduced risk of a hospital visit and as much as a 45 percent reduced risk of hospitalization of one day or more. still there is concern for the unvaccinated and people with compromised immunity. >> you have to be careful that we don't get complacent about that. or it night lead to a lot of hospitalizations in the united states. >> several states are reporting their highest daily case numbers in a year, just days away from the the a return to the class r5078 for millions of students, in new york city rates among children are up 4 fold from last week with approximately half of those hospitalized under the age of five. >> it is super con stagous and i have seen the spread among the kids. >> dr. george vermenton is a pediatric physician in the bronx. >> back to school is front of mind for many families across the country. what can families do to keep their kids safe and keep their kids in school. >> it is super important if after family gatherings, if you can get tested, you should get like a test. most important thing is if you are above five, to get your vaccine. and after that, more people, hand washing. >> and tom, what are schools doing to brace for a potential surge? >> well, meg, here in new york city some schools are offering remote learning as well as keeping the schools ep and in washington d.c. they're extending the winter break by two days, using that time to distribute 100,000 covid tests to faculty and students in hopes of returning to the classroom safely, meg? >> tom hanson, thank you. >> meantime russian troops have reportedly withdrawn from the ukraine border. this comes after months of tension in the region and fears of a russian offensive in 2022. cbs's christina ruffini is at the white house for us tonight, christina, good evening. >> good evening, meg. that's right, russian state media said today about 10,000 russian forces, many of which were deployed near the border with ukraine have been returned to their homebases. this could help de-escalate tensions in the region however it st only a fraction of the estimated 780,000 to about 100,000 troops russia has in the area. in an interview staiped last week but aired today on "face the nation" margaret brennan asked the vice president if war in europe was eminent? -- imnentd. >> we are having direct conversations with russia. we are very clear that russia should not invade the sovereignty of ukraine. that we must stand up and we are standing up for its territorial integrity. we are working with our allies in that regard. >> the vice president also echoed what president biden has said and that moscow would face unprecedented sanctions should vladimir putin choose to invade his neighbor. this comes after weeks of back and forth between nato and mass cow, between the kremlin and the white house. russia has made its own demands including saying it it wants everyone to agree that ukraine can never join nato, a move that seems unlikely, anyone would actual three agree to it. u.s. intelligence originally said russia could be ready to invade ukraine as early as january but with the troop withdraw today perhaps st a sign that russia is holding off, at least for now. >> christina ruffini, thank you. >> south africa arch bishoped desmond tutu whose powerful voice helped tear down apartheid has died. tearful mourners town out o in capetown remembering a man who prepared nonviolence and fought for a peaceful reconciliation. >> his legacy will riff on forever. >> tutu was 90 years old. cbs's debora patta remembers the giant of the antiapartheid movement. >>. >> the tiny man way twinkle in his eye, a massive loss. born in the township of south africa desmond tutu went on to become a nobel peace prize winner. a global campaigner for human rights and a man who always spoke truth to power. with whether it was with awhite racist regime or dictatorship. >> as south africa's first black archbishop he unhesitatingly usedhis office to bravely challenge the brutal racism of the country's apartheid rulers. >> the white people don't want to hear, this the primary terrorism in this country comes from the government. and until that system goes, there is no hope at all of any civility in this land. >> but equally he could turn that righteous fury on his own supporters. in 1985 tutu fearilessly broke up an angry south african mob and prevented them from burning a man to death on suspicion of been an apartheid spy. when the dark days of raiks hatred finally ended and tutu's long time friend and former south african president nelson mandela was released from 27 years behind bars, the tsh tsh he could not hold back his joy. >> freedom is coming. freedom is coming. >> and it was pan dela who appointed his friend tutu to lead south african's truth and reconciliation commission, a body task tked with uncovering the truth about the apartheid government's brutality. at times it moved tutu to tears. here he breaks down on hearing yet another victim's harrowing stories. but there was a measured consistency in his approach. like the time he begged mandela's wormer wife winnie madikizela mandela to apologize for abducting a young boy in 1988 because she believed he was an apartheid spy. the 14 year old boy's battered body was found many weeks later. >> i begged you, please, you are a great president, and you you don't know how your greatness will be enhanced if you say sorry. things went wrong for people. the business of dismantling apartheid was not all doom and gloom, tutu had a self-deprecating sense of humor. >> one lady said it to me, yeah, bishop, if they do this when you have yet, can you imagine what is going to happen when nelson comes? which to crack a joke-- the world say little darker without him. he leaves behind a foundation committed to keeping rights but his real legacy is the wonderful tale of how a past we are a big laugh became a tblobbal conscience for the world. debora patta, cbs news, south africa. >> the archbishop leaves behind a wife and four children. >> straight ahead on the cbs weekend news a battle over the 5g rollout could trigger thousands of flight delays and cancellations.