Were suspended because of threats against staff. Does it matter what mask you wear . We examine the difference between the various makes as one expert suggests we should be double masking. And travel disruption in parts of the north of england and scotland, with some motorists stranded as heavy snow brings chaos. And coming up in sport on bbc news. The government meets with campaigners to discuss the issue of Head Injuries in sport, with concerns over the number of former players being diagnosed with dementia. Good afternoon, and welcome to the bbc news at one. Just when the government said it was trying to get on top of one variant the South African Variant Of Coronavirus now comes another one. The kent variant of coronavirus which has been spreading around the uk now appears to be undergoing some new genetic changes and Scientists Say theyre worried. All this as a door to door Testing Blitz of 80,000 people is under way in a number of areas around england, as the government says it w
through what this is actually going to look like. gene sperling is a longtime economic aide. he served other presidents. he has been a adviser to president biden on the campaign trail. but he is not expected at the sore money. because right now like most americans he is working remotely, has not been vaccinated yet, and is still in california according to the white house. and he won t be in the west wing doing the job for several more weeks according to the press secretary earlier today. that is interesting. gloria, this package, relief package is popular. is the white house worried that it won t be so popular, that popularity that wane? why this real effort to bolster this. well, a lot of people who were there, including the president himself, were there in 2009 when the stimulus package passed. and one of the problems with that, biden himself has said, is that they never explained the benefits of it to the american people. and it was unpopular. this bill starts out more
this is the moment to decide to defend our elections, to defend our democracy. cecilia vega, who was on the air with me this afternoon for this. and there could be votes as early as tomorrow in the senate? reporter: senator schumer announcing that today, david. we could sigh these votes as early as tomorrow. in those bills, democrats want to allow the justice department to be able to police changes to voting laws in some states, but right now, the bottom line, president biden still does not have the votes in his own party to pull this off. senator manchin saying today, he is still opposed to eliminating the filibuster. cecilia vega live in georgia tonight. cecilia, thank you. next tonight, the major arctic blast in the northeast. dangerous wind chills from washington, d.c. all the way up to new york and new england. the cold supercharging lake effect snow. this from upstate torque not. more than two feet of snow. in new york city, people bundled up in central park. a covid test
capitol physician, the doctor for the house and the senate, sent a sobering, detailed letter to the democratic and republican leaders of the senate, telling them that, you know, regardless of the snow, senators really ought to be staying home now anyway. apparently at the covid testing site they ve got set up at the u.s. capitol, the positivity rate, the rate at which tests at that site are coming back positive, it had been under 1% until recently, until this current omicron wave of the virus started to hit in dc. but the capitol physician advised senators today that as of right now the test positivity rate there has gone from under 1% to over 13%. he described that the number of covid cases on capitol hill right now is, quote, unprecedented, saying, quote, dozens of individuals with coronavirus infection are identified at the capitol daily.
get relief finally, with magnilife® leg and back pain relief. and get living. available at your local retailer. one in every five americans has now been infected with covid-19. this is according to a new data out today from johns hopkins university. cases are up in 20 states but down in parts of the northeast, southeast, and some parts of the west. hospitalizations are up in 40 states, like oklahoma. leaders of four oklahoma city hospitals tell cnn that they are now at a breaking point with zero icu beds available. cnn s nick valencia is live at a covid testing site in atlanta. so, nick, what are you seeing there? reporter: yeah, really sobering data coming out from johns hopkins university, wanted to start there. that data, though, coming from confirmed lab tests so you have