dollars so that they could stay open, be prepared, open safely, all of that. no many of them are saying we ll have to go virtual again. so the president criticized specifically some of the states and he s asking where did the money go? we also back then included an $10 billion for testing for schools. that money went out to the states. states and the school districts have spent the money well. many of them. unfortunately some haven t. martha: unfortunately some haven t. there s the podium. we re waiting for jen psaki that will probably get questions about this in terms of the accountability. where does the money go? if the money is supposed to be for testing and safe open schools, we don t we have that in some cases? we ll dig into that. that money was allocated for those specific things. why are we still seeing challenges? $72.8 billion allocated to testing and detecting the virus in an ample fashion over the course of 2020 and 2021. edward lawrence digging into this. he
alaska airlines canceled some flights as well. there s been disagreement in the industry on how to handle this new pandemic surge as air travel rebounds to pre-pandemic levels. cnn s pete muntean has the latest from regan national airport. reporter: christine, paula, things are getting busier by the moment here at regan national airport. some of the numbers we have seen are already higher than where they were back in 2019 before the pandemic. the tsa screened 2.08 million people at airports across the country on wednesday. that number actually higher than the same day back in 2019, 1.84 screened back then two years ago. just a bit of context here, though. that same wednesday two years ago, that was christmas day itself when passenger loads are low, but even still we have seen numbers at or near 2 luis palomino per d 2 million per day. there are long lines to get tested for coronavirus. this one at b.w.i. thurgood marshall airport, there was a line for testing either earth b
family and friends practicing similar prevention measures. president biden saying he bungled the covid case. omicron variant may have peaked. and despite the surge in covid cases, americans are crowding the roads and the airports at near pre-pandemic levels. we have your holiday travel and weather covered. announcer: live from london, this is cnn newsroom with isa soares. welcome, everyone. it is thursday, december 23rd. we begin with some positive news in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic. there is a new pill that could be a real game changer. the fda has authorized pfizer s antiviral pill to treat covid-19 in the united states. and the white house says thousands will be available in a matter of weeks and many more by the summer. cnn medical analyst dr. leana wen explains why this is such a big deal. there are a lot of people who are remaining unvaccinated. i wish they were going to get vaccinated, but we know that there are some people who are just n