adding the recommended isolation time and have for infected americans. that s feeling a public debate about whether a negative test should be required. trace: getting that test is easier said than done. americans are standing in line for hours and of the time for results as long as four days. dana: we have team box coverage for you. i know max like cancellations. mark has reactions. let s first go to washington where kevin is standing by. great to see you. lots of moving parts in this story and from the white house perspective, probably not necessarily a good thing. you may recall the president said back in april of last year that covid deaths and cases were way down, and we are making great strides in the fighting as the pandemic. now several months later, cases continue to surge. there is growing frustration over what appeared at least to some to be a lack of messaging consistency with respect to retesting recommendations. even as the country struggles with testing
good to be with you here, laura. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. two variants are reminding us why this virus isn t going away any time soon. the u.s. shattering its record for average daily cases more than doubling in two weeks, thanks to a combination of both delta and omicron. the cdc even adjusting its data now, showing delta still accounts for about 40% of these cases. hospitalizations are not spiking as fast, but experts still have concerns about the weeks ahead. there is no question that january will be filled with a lot of short-term challenges. hospital beds, staffing shortages of tests, shortages of almost everything. it s tough to handle this many indications at once. i think we have a good thing in these tests, but there won t be enough in many places to get us through the most trying time. now the fda says at-home coronavirus tests may be less sensitive to picking up the omicron variant. that could send more people out for
from what we do know there s a significant number of mutations, perhaps double the number of mutations that we have seen in the delta variant. and that would suggest that it may well be more transmissible and the current vaccines that we have may well be less effective. so are we heading for a return to tough travel restrictions? paul charles is ceo of the travel consultancy the pc agency. 20 months into the crisis, this must feel like deja vu for the industry do travellers have more flexibilty and financial protection this time round? i think they do, there is no doubt travel firms have become much better at offering refunds or alternatives in terms of switching flights but this feels like we are going backwards at a time when things were improving. airlines were back to 60 or 70% of what they were flying pre pandemic, tour operators and travel agents were seeing bookings return to around 80% of what they saw before the pandemic and hotels were starting to fill a room is a
and tributes pouring in for a former miss usa. what we re learning about her tragic death. announcer: this is nbc nightly news with lester holt good evening there were some sharp exchanges in the united nations today between the u.s. and russia, diplomacy going nowhere as the showdown grows over russia s military build-up on its border with ukraine as ukraine tonight appears to show more signs of preparation for war, civilians getting weapons training the u.s. took its growing concerns over russia s plans to the u.n. security council. the united states warning the russian build-up threatens europe russia accusing the u.s. of whipping up hysteria while denying plans to roll troops across the border. tonight, a move in congress to raise the ante on sanctions against russia andrea mitchell is watching it all for us and has the latest. reporter: with russia deploying more fighter jets and conducting anti-submarine naval drills, president biden tonight saying the u.s. is p
administration the january 6th committee has now heard from a key witness and its investigation. mark sure, the former vice president mike pence s former chief of staff quietly testified before the house camila committee last wednesday. short was with pence at the capitol on the day of the insurrection as a pro trump mob stormed the building calling for pence to be hanged. shorts testimony follows a subpoena and an earlier engagement with the january six committee and this latest development comes as donald trump is amplifying the false claim that mike pence had the authority to overturn the 2020 election. late sunday, trump sent out a a statement slamming the bipartisan effort to update the electoral count act suggesting that the law as written quote, mike pence did have the right to change the outcome and they now want to take that right away. unfortunately, he did not exercise that power, he could ve overturn the election and quote and that followed his speech at a rally i