Now. And day four of that annual motorcycle rally is under way. There is roughly 700,000 people, and wes want to bring in dr. Natalie azar. Good to have you. Morgan, let me start with you in texas. At last check a few hours ago you mentioned that just half a dozen icu beds were left in austin. What are officials there saying about how dire things have gotten in austin texas and beyond? they re saying things are reaching a crisis level. We have seen hospitals revert back to staffing levels, to operation modes, when texas was seening a real summer surge. Social media, phone calls, any way they can to say please stay indoors, don t so go to mask gatherings, and please mask up. For another big part of the surge is the fact they are unable to issue a mask mandate. It has been prohibited with an executive order. Six icu beds in the greater austin area. We have about eight million people there. At last check they re about 75 icu beds available there. So no matter where you look you re running
and a look back at the legacy of archbishop desmond tutu. we begin this hour with the growing concern over the rapid spread over the omicron variant in the united states. it s driving daily covid infections to highs not seen since last january. as cases spread, so does the demand for tests. americans are facing a shortage of at-home kits. and this is the scene at testing sites around the country. long lines with people often having to wait hours to get tested. the white house is facing increased criticism over its handling of covid testing. here s what top health expert dr. anthony fauci had to say. we should be using testing, much more extensively than we have. even in a situation where you have people that are vaccinated or boosted. but the situation where you have such a high demand, a conflation of events, omicron stirring people to get appropriately concerned and wanting to get tested, as well as the fact of the run-on test through the holiday season. we have to
across the united states, a cold, cold winter for democrats. joe biden s approval rating dips as capitol hill prepares for battle over build back better. and jury deliberations begin in the trial over daunt wright s death. the defensive s strategy for exonerating the former police officer, kim potter. good to have you with us. more fears of an omicron takeover are becoming a reality in the united states. on monday, the cdc announced the highly contagious variant now accounts for more than 73% of new cases. omicron has been detected in all but two u.s. states. and it is even more prevalent in parts of the southeast and northwest. the variant s rapid spread comes during the busy holiday season, straining the country s testing capacity. some states are now deploying the national guard to assist and military teams are being sent to support overwhelmed hospitals in hard hit areas. meanwhile, the u.s. president joe biden will deliver remarks on the omicron variant in the coming
virus, not ourselves. unlike the previous strains, it transmits very readily to the air to large numbers of people. if we wait and see, then by the time we re seeing, it s always too late to act. it is being called an unpleasant case of deja vu. the u.s. sees another covid winter surge, but this time it s the omicron variant taking over. we are just hours away from president biden s speech on the pandemic. what will he tell americans as they head into the holidays? and jury deliberations will begin in the trial of the killing of daunte wright. we ll have closing arguments in the trial of the police officer kim potter. announcer: live from london, this is cnn newsroom with isa soares. welcome, everyone. it is tuesday, december 21st, and we begin with a staggering really take over of the omicron variant in the united states. on monday, the cdc announced the highly contagious variant now accounts for more than 73% of new covid cases. now, omicron has been detecte
still going to get a lot of people who are going to get sick and be in the hospital. there may be less relatively speaking than with other variants, but that doesn t mean that you re completely exempt from getting serious illness, so it s ill-advised to be cavalier about it and say, well, who cares, if i get infected. we re also learning more about the omicron variant and how quickly it is spreading. it was just a traffic cases in america at the beginning of the month, and now it makes up 73% of all cases. let s start this hour with cnn s elizabeth cohen who is tracking all of this. owe lizabeth, what does the rapid spread of only crop mean? what should people take from this? well, people should take from this is very similar to what dr. fauci just said. this is spreading very quickly, and even if the disease is milder, it s going to reach more people. it s going to reach more elderly people, more immune-compromised people and we need to do our best to protect them as w