and the brave four-year-old girl traveling halfway across the world her life saving journey to the u.s. this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. good evening the last thing any of us wants is to revisit 2020 that was one rough road but the comparisons are inescapable tonight in pockets of this country covid sidelining more and more people as it did last december when vaccinations were just beginning. new york city with over 10,000 new cases reported today in several major cities, there are long lines for testing. facing outbreaks of their own, businesses in some places are closing their doors. major sporting events postponed. classrooms closed. and the unvaccinated being warned in no uncertain terms these are dangerous days ahead, especially as the highly contagious omicron variant multiplies tonight urgent calls for the vaccinated to get booster shots. so far some 58 million boosters administered to just over a quarter of those fully vaccinated our team is in place t
shot and killed daunte wright. i remember yelling taser, taser, taser, and nothing happened. and then he told me i shot him. plus as the january 6th committee prepares for more key depositions, one of the rioters gets one of the toughest sentences yet for flowing a fire extinguisher at police officers. and dark side of social media, unverified threats on tiktok, shutting down the country. good morning, everybody. it s saturday, december 18th, i m lindsey reiser. and we have a team of reporters and analystists following the latest from washington, d.c. tole kentucky. we begin, though, this weekend with americans across the country grappling with a really tough decision. keep their holiday plans to see loved ones or cancel as a massive twin variant surge of covid cases begins to hit. it s been 21 months and one week since the world health organization declared coronavirus a pandemic. this is a case rate over that time. over there on the far right there, you see how sharpl
could forever change the battlefield. and honoring bob dole, long time senator and former presidential nominee what he told me in one of his last interviews about surviving the wounds of world war ii. thank you for your service. this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. good evening reminding we can never take our eyes off the ball when it comes to covid, the delta variant, the one we have been living with for months is the one fuelling a disturbing new rise in cases tonight, climbing now in at least 22 states. delta still accounting for more than 99% of infections but it is the newer omicron variant and its worrisome potential driving big changes and mandates tonight. the new u.s. global travel requirements taking effect today as new york city officials announce the most sweeping vaccination mandates in the country impacting virtually all private companies. tonight we go into the heart of a community under siege with the team coming to the rescue of a health syste
all of these rooms are full. all of these rooms are full of intubated covid patients. reporter: to see the grim reality, look no further than farmington, new mexico. two weeks ago, we saw their icus are full. local funeral homes tell us they re now running out of room to hold the dead. our thanks to miguel on that. let s bring in the doctor on the report. it s good to see you bright and early. it seems like things were getting real again and we re seeing restaurants and productions shutting down, and we just heard miguel say the rockettes are cancelling their season. when are we headed here? you know, lindsay, with the omicron variant, with the muslim countries and eu and south africa, with this move, the growth rate, the doubling rate of just two days in some areas means that we re quickly getting overwhelmed with cases.
Loved ones or cancel as a massive twin variant surge of covid cases begins to hit. it s been 21 months and one week since the world health organization declared coronavirus a pandemic. this is a case rate over that time. over there on the far right there, you see how sharply things are rising right now. new york state just recorded the highest one-day total of new cases. the highest one-day total, since the pandemic began there here s governor kathy hochul on the spike. it s going to get worse, especially after christmas day. people gathering in person. there will be absolute more spread. we saw a 70% increase in cases from thanksgiving to two weeks later. and the same thing is going to happen. all right. we want to show you a state-by-state look on how cases have changed in just over the last 72 hours. each state you see in red is showing a jump in cases over that time. here s nbc news national correspondence miguel almaguer.