vaccination status. and the tributes pouring in for a legendary oscar-winning trailblazer. this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. good evening many of us have taken some comfort in the belief that illness from the omicron covid variant is generally mild while that s true for many, some eye opening numbers tonight from the cdc offer important perspective. children under the age of five are being hospitalized at the highest rate since the start of the pandemic. the group of course not yet eligible for vaccinations, but the unvaccinated in general are driving overall hospitalizations to the highest level in a year over 126,000 this evening president biden seeking to assure us that covid as we re dealing with it now is not here to stay we re going to begin tonight in a place where all the numbers we talk about every night here translate to people, patients and medical workers whose lives are being upended by this virus. i want to warn you some of this may not be easy
Are overwhelmed and short staffed. our rare access inside the covid icu in a hospital that s seen a 900% jump in covid cases since thanksgiving and new information tonight on getting those free covid tests promised by president biden. also tonight, the supreme court hearing arguments over the president s vaccine mandates the signal that the justices gave on how they may rule. the three men convicted in the murder of ahmaud arbery sentenced how long they will spend behind bars, and the emotional words in court today from arbery s mother. the major winter storm slamming the east coast up to a foot of snow, dangerous road conditions and next the bitter cold moving in the deadly crackdown kazakhstan s president issuing a shoot-to-kill order. to quell violent protesters the new crisis spilling out on to the world stage. a second tennis star joining the world s number one player in detention in australia over their
Already coded this morning, so it is very exhausting. reporter: all right, gabe. a sad and hard reality playing out in so many hospitals. let me ask you right now about the white house s promise to get at home test kits to all americans. where does that stand? reporter: yes, lester the biden administration just awarded two contracts related to the tests they will be sent through the postal service. details are still being finalized, but the white house is expected to provide more details next week. lester gabe gutierrez, thank you. beyond testing, the supreme court today considering the fate of another biden administration effort against covid. a federal mandate requiring tens of millions of workers to get vaccinated or take weekly tests as pete williams reports, the justices seem skeptical reporter: the court tonight seems prepared to block what the biden administration calls a powerful tool for fighting covid a mandate that companies with more than 100 employees
Stacked up. reporter: a tiny makeshift morgue overflowing with bodies followed by lawsuits from families. $220,000 in federal fines, a name change, but still the same owners who remain under investigation by the state attorney general. they told nbc news at the time they faced unprecedented challenges as best they could as of today, 213 residents and 114 staffers tested positive, the highest number of any long-term care facility in the state. the center did not respond to nbc s repeated requests for comment today. the national guard will arrive monday to help, getting residents from beds to chairs with daily hygiene and dressing and with testing and screening of staff, residents and visitors. you re going to see, i think over the next couple of weeks a lot more of that. reporter: nationwide the cdc says there are nearly 15,000 covid cases
Upended by this virus. i want to warn you some of this may not be easy to watch gabe gutierrez reports from inside a covid icu in maryland. reporter: when a patient s heart stops, seconds matter this is a code blue. an older covid patient unvaccinated this is as urgent as it gets this is the acute time frame. we re here trying to save someone s life. reporter: the frantic scene as heart-breaking as it is familiar. we are going to intubate. reporter: she never imagined she would be so busy. it s very tough you go to the bathroom and you cry and you come back and you do it all over again. reporter: this was supposed to be her day off. she came in anyway why? because i m a nurse. i m a nurse. and i signed up to be a nurse. the patients did not sign up for covid. reporter: just outside d.c., doctor s community health center in maryland has seen a 925% jump in