rob marciano standing by tracking it all as the system races east. our other top story, the record-breaking covid surge and the staggering spread of the omicron variant at the start of the new year. new york state marking an all-time single-day high of more than 85,000 new cases. hospitalizations nationwide approaching 100,000 as our country enters the third year of this pandemic. the urgent concerns as schools prepare to return to in-person learning after the long winter break. what parents need to know tonight. and the desperate search in colorado for three people missing after those devastating december wildfires carved a path of destruction. hundreds have started the new year homeless. and snow and bitter cold are adding to the misery. zohreen shah is in the fire zone tonight. and sticker shock in 2022. the worst inflation in decades has prices for groceries and other items set to rise even higher this year, some by as much as 20%. paying tribute to a global civil
his considerable political and legislative skills far from the spotlight. during his time in the senate he pushed through the passage of obama care as well as the sweeping economic stimulus after the great recession and new rules governing wall street. a one-time amateur boxer he could bob and weave on the political stage as well. and tonight the current majority leader chuck schumer wrote this. harry reid was one of the most amazing individuals i ve ever met. he never forgot where he came from and used those boxing instincts to fearlessly fight those who were hurting the poor and middle class. schumer has ordered flags at the capitol lowered to half staff. we ll have more on harry reid s legacy just ahead. our other big story tonight continues to be omicron. the latest variant converging with the delta strain to drive covid infections to a new record in this country today. the latest cdc data showing the seven day average of new cases topping 250,000 per day. as of this af
unlike last year we have tools to gather safely this year, but hardships remain. there are struggles to find tests and testing. u.s. cases just spiked 48% from last week and right now new infections are topping the wave we saw from delta. hospitalizations are also up. the cdc is taking action before the winter wave now shortening a time that health care workers have to test after testing positive. airlines today pushing for that same guidance and staffing shortages are grounding hundreds of christmas eve flights. people are stranded and mask mandates are still in place and the fatigue is real and so is the loss. right now roughly 1,500 americans are doing of covid each day, most overwhelmingly unvaccinated. over 815,000 mesh lives now lost to this virus. our hearts are with those families, especially this holiday. several covid headlines to get to to start us off this hour to. begin we start with our senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen. let s go through what the cdc
raging. the omicron strain s surging case numbers officially topped the delta variant s peak in early september. nbc news reports more than 2000 deaths on wednesday alone. we re going to dig into the massive strain the surge is putting on hospitals nationwide as well as the airline industry on a busy holiday weekend. multiple airlines forced to cancel hundreds of flights today because the virus is hitting crew members so hard. we ll look into what this means for the rest of the country as the u.s. lets travel restrictions to eight african countries. plus guilty on all counts. exminnesota police officer kim potter is behind bars this morning after the jury rendered the verdict in a shooting death of dawn ray wright. how much time she could face in prison and when she s set to learn her sentence. also a potential bomb shell reportedly being considered in the committee investigating the january 6th insurrection. the committee is now focussed on former president trump s hours
sam, we have all seen those testing lines. they are extremely long whether people are hanging out on the sidewalk or in their car. tell us what you are seeing and hearing from folks, and also what you know about the airlines grounding lights? reporter: first, testing, you see this crush of cars over my shoulder. that s one little snippet of what is going on at the testing and vaccination site here in miami-dade. they are somewhere in the neighborhood of 8,000 to 9,000 people getting tested today, and that s triple the numbers in the last coming days. it did not look like this a week ago, but it is ramped up with so many wanting to go and see their loved ones, and florida almost broke its record yesterday, a strong likelihood we will see a bigger number than that that will be the single number of infections daily we have seen so far. that s on the testing site. miami-dade officially is at 15% and climbing. now, let s talk about the airlines. delta airlines announcing its exp