we begin with the staggering covid numbers. the u.s. is now averaging more than 237,000 new daily cases, and several states are near all-time peak covid hospitalization levels. now the stark rise comes as the cdc announced it s cutting the recommended isolation period for asymptomatic infected americans in half. instead of staying away from other people for ten days the cdc says stay home for just five, that s if you re asymptomatic by day five. now the agency says the change is driven by data showing most covid transmission happens one to two days before someone has symptoms, and in a two to three days after. want to get straight to cnn medical correspondent elizabeth cohen. this is a major change. what kind of precipitated this? what precipitated is, phil, was the statistic you just gave where they said, look, if you re most symptomatic right before and two or three days after exposure, why are we keeping people out for ten days? they started to see we re losing doctors.
asymptomatic and if you keep wearing a mask. it is welcome news for industries struggling with staffing shortages amid the latest covid surge. airlines, hospitals, others all dealing with massive disruptions. several states are now nearing peak pandemic level hospitalizations. new infections fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant are rising rapidly. the u.s. now averaging over 237,000 cases a day. that represents a 66% jump over the last week. cnn s senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen is here now with more. elizabeth, some may be confused by this new cdc guidance. there s still a downforce. what does it all mean? first of all, people are confused because it s confusing. this guidance is extremely difficult to understand, and i think it s really going to be controversial. some people, experts i ve talked to said this is right way to go, others have said, hmm, this could be problematic, especially as schools go back into session next week. let s take a look
pandemic of the unvaccinated, the chosen unvaccinated. the cdc saying an alarming spike in cases and deaths could be on the way very soon because tens of millions of americans who could be vaccinated refuse to do so. here is a headline you may have seen earlier this week. the air force discharging 27 people for refusing to get the vaccine. the first service members to be removed for disobeying the mandate to get the shot. but i want you to know the real headline you probably missed. 27 people left. well, guess what, as of december 10, the pentagon says that more than 96% of all active duty personnel have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine. that is great news. so let s get the latest from miguel almaguer in los angeles. miguel? reporter: stephanie, good morning. we re looking at a convergence of several issues. delta is hammering hospitals across the nation. omicron cases are now beginning to circulate here in the u.s., and now we have this grim prediction from the cd
they won t turn up to support him, and if he proposes them they won t vote for basic public health measures. i understand the legitimate anxieties that colleagues have about restrictions on their liberty, and on the liberty of people, but i believe the approach we are taking is balanced and proportionate and right for this country. the cost of living hits its highest level for a decade inflation surging to 5.1% in the year to november. sir lewis hamilton, for services to motorsport and arise sir lewis he may have lost the world title, but today lewis hamilton has been knighted at windsor castle. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. the head of the uk health security agency says the growth of the omicron variant is going to be staggering . drjenny harries described omicron as probably the most significant threat to public health since the start of the pandemic . from today, adults in england must now show a covid pass to get into nightclubs, big sports matches and o
see the arm. it would be somebody having to hold the gun left-handed. this is a right-handed firearm. if this gun is brought up to his face and it is pulled back, the shell casing hot and the fire that ejects it is going right into kyle s face. the photograph i ll talk about later, you don t see the straps on his shirt. it didn t happen the way he said. it doesn t happen in the way the photograph. i m going to need this again. burden of proof, once again. the telephones. the searching of telephones with search warrants. the subpoenaing of records. i have no problem with that. it s good police work. when you pick and choose and you make favorites, it s not. my client testified and i ll say it this way, the detectives testified that my client s phone was sent to the fbi. it was unsearchable because of the operating system. the fbi and the government had not cracked it yet. we found out about that. we had nothing to hide. here s the numbers. search the phone. as long as we re gi