the hospital. the reason it matters, as you point out and as the reporting points out, it s primarily because the hospitals are just going to be completely overloaded, particularly in some areas of the country. so i think people want to reduce the spread. i think the best way to do that is to get boosted. i think that ll be the main message from the president. we have the technology. we have the science to solve this. it s not like a year ago when we just had to basically live with it. so i think he s going to do talk about the things he s doing and the things the country needs to do in order to prevent this from spreading. lindsey, in a weird, positive way, it s good that schools are letting out for christmas break. what are we hearing about schools? reporter: yeah, steph. so schools go on winter break after this thursday. we re actually live outside a school, in addition to this covid testing van here. mayor bill de blasio has no intention of closing down public schools. i spok
before the van pulled up, just to give you some perspective. it is 25 degrees, 18 with the wind chill. i asked people if they felt safe in the line. it is socially distanced for the most part. this is the cluster to the front of the van where it is divided into several lines. most people are masked and distanced. you know, steph, let s talk about why we re seeing this also. it s because of the case numbers in new york state alone. let s show you from the governor of new york, who tweeted another record. three days in a row of records. 22,500 cases statewide. about half of those are here in new york city. the sliver of good hope, though, is that hospitalizations are down. also, steph, we should note that hospitalizations right now, about 3,800, are nowhere near where they were in january, where they were about 9,000, steph. andy, given the amount of people that have the virus, chances are, somebody in my family has been exposed.
but this morning, we did get some good news from moderna. new data shows that their booster shots immunity against omicron nearly 40-fold. experts say we desperately need it. right now, the worst of the spread is in the northeast. states like new york, new jersey, and massachusetts. while in florida, cases have doubled in the last week alone. and for people who are trying to do the right thing and get tested, those tests are hard to come by. my question is why? this video of line on the upper west side of manhattan. people started waiting before the sun came up to get a test from a guy in a van. we heard similar stories all over town. some people waiting two, three hours just to get tested. tomorrow, president biden will address the nation to lay out new steps his administration will take to help americans cope with this latest wave. here s what we do know. it is expected to get worse before it gets better. the nation s top experts say omicron is essentially taking over, and it is happ
address the country tomorrow with those spikes and new mandates being announced in some cities today. proof of vaccination is going to be required for indoor venues in boston, d.c., here. it is going to require masking at indoor venues. lines for testing stretch for hours. you are looking at the new york governor delivering an omicron briefing right now. i want to bring in lindsey reiser who is with us, in new york city, and dr. jabila. you are in new york, right? it feels de deja vuish. talk to me about what you are seeing? you are outside a school. we are outside a school, outside a covid testing van. the line wasn t bad when we got
so you have here a president biden who has to really navigate all of these challenges and part of navigating covid is also, as you said, getting relief to people and getting his party on the same page. so quite a few things going on there. and we messagesmentioned this a top, lindsey. so many decisions so many people have to make. for most schools, kids were going to go out on holiday break, at least through the end of this week, certainly through the beginning of january. having said that, there are a lot of decisions that have to be made by administrators, and right now, how are new york city officials responding to this new wave? well, chris, we are outside of a school. we ll get to that in a minute, but we re also outside a covid testing van. that s why you see so many people behind me. take a look at the line. people have been waiting since before 6:30 this morning. you can see people jumping around in line, because it is freezing out here. they re trying to stay warm. but in