airlines when they started to see they were going to have staffing troubles. other airlines negotiated incentive pay to get through the holiday period. delta didn t do that. cdc responded with a cut in half of the isolation time when someone is infected, with no testing before going back out into public. but, with two key points. that you are asymptomatic and that you continue to wear a mask. it is really important that we lift this up and cdc should be recommending if they re going to fall in line with what the airlines want, that the airlines also say how they re going to implement this to make sure that it is only for people who are asymptomatic, who are coming back to work, so that people are not forced to come back to work when they re still sick and how they re going to implement ensuring masks are worn at all times, including in the flight deck. so they say people should continue to wear a mask for those five days after they are asymptomatic. going back to work. you said you t
fauci and others talking about the need for better testing. dr. fauci saying we need to flood the country with tests. right now the testing is not great in all parts of the country. the reason it s not clear about omicron, is that because they weren t testing against omicron when they started to do these trials? reporter: right. of course. when they did the clinical trials back in 2020, omicron didn t exist. delta didn t exist. they were testing it against the original form of coronavirus. sometimes called the wild type. people didn t even know omicron was around. so that is part of the reason, erica. elizabeth cohen, appreciate it. thank you. reporter: thanks. former baltimore city health commissioner dr. lena wen. we are seeing a huge rise in cases, particularly around where erica and i are sitting in new york city. a dramatic increase in cases but
maker in ways when it comes to this legislation. but we don t know that. what we know is what is today, which is a president who is reeling from a resurgence of covid, low approval numbers, and now a key piece of his legislation that for today is done even if it could be revived down the road. s.e., the white house basically accused joe manchin of breaking his word, which you do not hear too often in washington. they indicated they were e surprised. isn t their job tot to be surprised by something like that? indeed. this didn t happen mysteriously in the bermuda triangle. it happened in washington and in west virginia where joe biden lost by 40 points. there s no mystery as to why joe manchin wasn t into this. because his constituents are not into in. that has been known for a real long time. so i understand the white house feeling a little blind-sided by joe manchin going on, you know,
back with me nbc white house correspondent mike memoli, matt bradley is in london, and dr. peter hotez. so the thing we heard repeatedly from him, dr. hotez is you got to get vaccinated. you got to get boostered. we re only at about, i think, 60%, not even quite that full vaccination here in the united states. i mean, is that realistic to think suddenly this variant where delta didn t is going to push people to get vaccinated? do you think it will at least push people to get boosters in terms of making us safer in ways that we can do it ourselves, do you think this is a game changer? well, the problem is, chris, right now the major component of fighting the battle against omicron in the united states is the same as fighting the battle against delta. by getting boosted, you ll not only have a 30 to 40 fold rise in virus neutralizing antibody to prevent you from getting the delta variant or going to the hospital, but there s likely, as tony said, dr. fauci said,
0 reports. andrea is on assignment. i m chris jansing. we re following that breaking news from the white house. president biden addressing the nation this hour after a second meeting with his covid response team in just two days. highlighting the urgency the administration is feeling to learn everything they can about the concerning new coronavirus variant omicron with confirmed cases already at our northern aborter in ontario, canada. there are still a number of things we don t know about this variant with the white house releasing a statement sunday saying dr. fauci believes it will take up to two weeks to get answers on omicron s transmissibility, severity and other characteristics. the big question for nearly 200 million fully vaccinated americans, will their vaccine hold up against this new strain. fauci this morning urging eligible americans to not let fears over omicron s impact stop them from getting their booster shots. i would strongly suggest you get boosted now and not w