and can t get anything done. the explosion in covid-19 cases on his watch after he promised to shut down the virus. meanwhile some schools across the country are actually shutting down again. let s ask about that if we could. our own sean hannity says today s news conference is really about one thing. they aren t concerned at all about their failing policies, spiking inflation, rising gas prices, open borders, supply chain crisis or of course the americans they left behind in afghanistan that we will never forget. instead the administration apparently believes that they have a messaging problem. just the problem is messaging and in order to solve the messaging problem some advisors want joe biden to spend more time communicating directly with you, the american people. harris: even cnn is calling out biden with this headline. an overdue presser. biden set to take reporter s questions in first formal news conference in months. they re right about that, jackie. it sure is
continues. new year s celebrations are being scaled back or canceled altogether, and businesses are closing because workers are forced to quarantine. all this as we see an increase in hospitalizations in children just days before schools reopen for the holiday break. gillian: fox team coverage, dr. marc siegel joins us in a moment. mike: but we begin with steve harrigan in atlanta, home of the cdc. steve? mike, more of these covid records are being set, but yesterday almost half a million new cases, almost double the amount that the previous single day had cases, 50 states have set records for new cases. the cdc says hospitalizations are lagging behind the new case numbers, that they are comparatively low. but just a short time ago six atlanta hospitals said they were suffering a staggering surge of covid patients, both adults and children, almost all of the nonvaccinated. for the surgeons and doctors on the front lines who have to deal at this, it really does seem like
a week from now. it comes as omicron spikes in new york and across the nation. we re going to look at schools by keeping them safe and open. he made that announcement just one day after they loosened guidance for americans that test positive but don t have symptoms. in moments we will break down the at home testing policy. we ll also go to puerto rico that is seeing a jaw dropping two-week spike in covid cases. puerto rico is now putting on travelers coming from the u.s. also ahead, dmu bo new body cam video from the shooting of an innocent teenager victim. beginning with the latest on the omicron variant, alison barber is in new york. also joining us is dr. nucar. talk about this disturning rise in cases. it comes as we just heard bill deblasio announce a plan to reopen schools with a ramped up testing policy. what are e we talking about for cases and how are they handling the surge right now? in new york city there has been a five fold increase. and half of them are u
bare. dr. anthony fauci telling cnn this morning it will improve soon. we had a conflation of high demands, high demands because of the concern about omicron, which is a justifiable concern, but the high demand that was triggered by the holiday season. you know, obviously, not making any excuses for it, we should have had more tests available, but hopefully now as we get into the first couple weeks in january that will get much better. in new york state, daily cases approaching 50,000. new york city is hoping to help curb that with its vaccine mandates for the private sector. that goes into effect today. this latest surge is also wreaking havoc on travel plans according to flight aware. more than 800 u.s. flights have been cancelled this morning. staff and crew are out sick worldwide. that s more than 2,300 flights. more on that in just a moment. let s begin this hour, though, with testing. leyla santiago joins us in miami at a 24-hour covid testing center. car rs have be
growing pressure to deliver with many people having to wait for hours to get tested during the holiday rush. now after promising to distribute tests the president wishes he had done it two months ago. rich edson starts our coverage live at the white house this morning. good morning, rich. good morning, julie. the white house is trying to get those tests out some 500 million of them where americans will ideally be able to go online early next month, order them, get them delivered to their homes. they still have to get the contracts signed and get all those tests out. this was the omicron variant arriving just in time for the holidays. americans have waited hours in line for covid tests, face shortages of at-home kits. president biden said last week his administration should have implemented a more aggressive testing strategy two months ago. the federal government needed to insure enough tests so anyone getting together for the holidays could have tested beforehand. unfortu