holidays. one of the latest reported cases, u.s. secretary of defense lloyd austin said he was last at the pentagon on thursday but he hasn t seen president biden in almost two weeks. hospitalizations are really the thing to watch here. those numbers are climbing at a slower pace. that means vaccines are working despite the faster spread of omicron. and more data coming in from the u.k. in south africa shows omicron infection may not be as severe. that s a good thing, but the problem, of course, is more infections in more people gives more chances for the virus to mutate again. only 62% of americans are fully vaccinated right now. that means more than 1/3 of the population is essentially a breeding ground for a new variant and many of those americans are in less populated states with fewer health care facilities. yeah. the crush here for the health care workers is just really important to note. another question, why is omicron affecting children more than other variants
but is the russian president trying to de-escalate this cry us or rachet up tensions with the u.s.? live from cnn center, this is cnn newsroom with john vause. hello, everyone, and welcome to our viewers in the united states joining us on cnn international. around the world, the advice is mostly the same. the safest place to see in the new year will be at home surrounded by a small number of people. many cities, public celebrations have either been canceled or scaled back and will have tougher guidelines for revelers. hopes for partying like it was 2019 have been dashed. despite a record daily count of 74,000 new infections across new york state, the traditional ball drop in times square still scheduled to take place, but now, there are new restrictions, masks and proof of vaccination both mandatory. attendance will be kept at 15,000 and viewing areas off-limits until 3:00 p.m. the seven-day average of global infections is almost 1.2 million, the highest ever since the
live from cnn center, this is cnn newsroom with john vause. hello, everyone. welcome to our viewers in the united states joining us here on cnn international. around the world, the advice is mostly the same, the safest place to see in the new year will be at home surrounded by a small number of people. in many cities, public celebrations have been canceled, scaled back or tougher guidelines. hopes of partying like it was 2019 have been dashed with a surge in covid infections. despite a record daily count of 74,000 infections in new york state, the traditional ball drop in new york city still scheduled, but attendance capped at 15,000, and viewing areas will be off-limits until 3:00 p.m. the seven-day average of global infections is 1.2 million, the highest ever since the pandemic began. average daily cases in the u.s. have set a record for the third straight day. more than 355,000 on thursday. and children once thought to be immune from the worst of the coronavirus, now b
year s eve celebrations. the annual times square celebration in new york city is for now a go. the fda has authorized two new at-home tests, but for now the demand for testing is drastically outpacing supply. many hospitals are maxed out with large portions of staff out sick themselves. states like georgia and ohio are the latest to activate the national guard for help. some experts say this is the new reality for the foreseeable future. everything we re going to do right now will be imperfect. just accept that right now. we don t know a lot of the things we wish we knew, but what we do know and is emerging is this country will be in the soup in the next few weeks. with so many cases in so many locations, we ll see critical infrastructure as well as health care challenged. one of those big challenges is a rise in pediatric cases. more than 300 children being admitted to the hospital nation wild for covid every day in the last two weeks, just 2% below the peak in september
week ago. ohio s hospitals are nearing records set at the end of last year. the national guard activated there and in georgia to help manage the surge, and we end 2021 much like we started it, with officials grappling with how to keep the public safe and keep critical institutions like schools open. cnn s senior medical elizabeth cohen joins us now. what factors into the decision of sending kids back into the classroom after the holidays? absolutely, the reason that the tension is palpable, phil, the reason that this is happening, this is reopening after the holidays and this is opening against the backdrop of hospitalizations for children in this country. unfortunately, this is a record we didn t want to beat but we re on our way of beating it. if you take a look at the week ending september 4th, children s hospitals hit a beak. a new record every day in the u.s. if we look at the week ending december 27th, it s 334, so we re getting very close to that record, and as the