hospitalizations and deaths are lower than their 2021 peaks, but the avalanche of new cases has the cdc predicting that more than 44,000 people could die of covid-19 in the next four weeks. pretty sobering numbers. cnn s nadia romero is covering the pediatric surge, but first let s start with polo sandoval on the airline cancellations. what a horrible mess, polo. reporter: i don t know how i survived my post-christmas travel a couple days ago. for so many americans they basically ended up stranded at airports as we continue to see them try to mitigate the flight cancellations, some due to the weather and some due to the omicron variant right now with many airline employees having to call in sick to recover from the virus at home. let s bring viewers up to speed on where the numbers are right now. just today alone over 2,300 flights canceled, now bring that total to just over 13,000 since christmas and authorities say it s likely going to get worse. we have seen in chicago,
xxxx many frustrated americans are waiting in long lines for tests if third quarter earnings conference call get them at all. speak spe speak to governors on monday, the steps he took to scale up capacity were not enough to meet demand. it s not enough. it s clearly not enough. if we had known, we would have gone harder, quicker if we could have. we have to do more. we have to do better. and we will. reporter: the president has pledged to distribute 500 million testing kits beginning in january. but that won t help this week s holiday crunch. let s go to cnn s leyla santiago outside a miami testing site with more. lela? reporter: john, we are still seeing very long lines here. people telling us at times they ve had to wait up to three hours to get tested. so much so that the county, miami dade county now plans to open four to five new testing sites in order to meet this unprecedented demand for testing of covid-19. as the omicron variant tares across the country,
continue to mask for five days to minimize the risk of infecting others. now, that new guidance is sparking relief for some, confusion for others as americans attempt to navigate how to manage the virus at this point and, of course, the new variant. these changes come as new cases are surging across the country right now. the us .s. is averaging more th 237,000 daily cases. for many americans, this holiday season may be remembered for hours spent in long testing lines or desperately searching pharmacy shelves for at-home tests. our team of reporters following all the latest developments this morning, but first, to our senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen on this big shift in guidance from the cdc. good morning. explain it to all of us because it is coulnfusing, even the lite part where it says that the time. does that mean you need to be asymptomatic at the end of the five days or the whole time? it is so confusing, poppy. let s start with where we were before this.
in the past few days. maine, michigan, new hampshire, and vermont saw more people hospitalized from covid than ever before. still, new cdc guidance aims to shorten the isolation period for people who test positive but have no symptoms from ten days to just five. cnn s tom foreman joins me now with all the details. tom, it is hard for people to keep up with all the new guidance and protocols, so take us through the latest. so many people are just exhausted by this, alisyn. we ve been through two years of this now and much of the goal right now seems to be to meet this new wave sweeping through the country and yet somehow keep the country working. the new cdc recommendation is simple enough. if you test positive for covid but show no symptoms, you can isolate for five days instead of the previous ten. then go about your business wearing a mask for five more. but the reason for the change is complicated, and health experts say, not purely medical. we want to get people back
hospital will see staff shortage when vaccine mandates take effect. people waiting for weeks if not months for routine appointment. it s terrifying. try to win it and kick is good to win the game. [cheers] this is the place that we all call home steve: good morning, dallas. it s 5:01 central time. and you are watching fox & friends monday, september 27th, 20021. we re up here on the mezzanine level and good morning, everybody. brian is off today. and in his spot on the curvey couch we have got will cain. saints. ainsley: that song perfect for out showing the state of texas. state fair there. playing home. will: state of texas hopefully my family is still asleep. glad to be up with you on fox & friends. ainsley: they are a little bit behind us. steve: my daughter sally lives in dallas. yesterday she said hey, dad, i m going to make that lasagna soup out of your cookbook, mom s cookbook. she called back later we re going to taste it now. she said it tastes oka