surprise, given the rampant increase in this variant. all of this comes on top of a surge largely due to the delta variant that has seen cases rise across the country. here in new york, we have had four-consecutive days of record-case numbers, statewide. it is causing confusion and, frankly, exhaustion, especially among overworked frontline workers, one of whom you will hear from in just a moment. i am john berman in for anderson. and now, let s be clear. as negative as these headlines might sound, this is not like the darkest days of the pandemic. not at all. for one, hospitalizations do not appear, as of yet, to be closely tracking the rising case counts. that has been the case in new york city, according to top health officials and in new jersey according to the governor there. time will tell if the broader country will be able to say the same. another explanation is also a second reason for for hope and that s vaccines. moderna today announced a third shot of its vaccin
reported less than a month ago is the dominant strain of new cases in this country. and made up 73% of new infections last week. 73%. a senior health official warned this weekend that these intexts are likely to increase and we ve just confirmed the first death in the united states due to the omicron variant in texas should not come as is surprise. this is on top of a surge that seen cases rise across the country. here in new york we had four consecutive days of record numbers statewide causing confusion and exhaustion among over worked front line workers, one of whom you ll hear from in a moment. i m john berman in for anderson. let s be clear. negative as these headlines might sound, this is not like the darkest days of the pandemic, not at all. for one, hospitalizations don t appear to be tracking the rising case counts in new york city according to top health officials and in new jersey according to the governor ther e moderna today announced a third shot of its vaccine s
that they be vaccinated or tests each week or go home. these rules keep workers safe. that will help keep businesses open. the people are vaccinated, tested, they re murder less likely to get sick and much less likely to spread to others. customers are more likely to shop because they know it s a safe environment. i know vaccination requirement are unpopular for many. not even popular for those that are anxious to get them. my administration has put them in to save your lives and the lives of others. 400,000 americans died from covid this calendar year. almost all are unvaccinated. almost all were preventible. it s going to save thousands of american lives. must also keep our k-12 schools open. the science is clear. it s overwhelming. we know how to keep our kids safe. k-12 schools should be open. that safety is increased if schools require all adults that work in the schools to get vaccinated. take the safety measure that the cdc is recommending including masking. i got cong
identified in south africa spreads rapidly and may show the ability to evade immunity and there s serious concerns that the covid advance evens may be less effective against this new strain. new covid cases meanwhile have surged in south africa in recent days. a growing number of countries, including the uk and france, are now banning travelers from south africa as well as neighboring countries. the variant has also been spotted already in belgium, hong kong and israel. the world health organization is warning it will take weeks to learn more details. all of this causing markets around the world to tumble. the u.s. markets included. they are down sharply. the dow jones industrial average, as you can see there, down roughly 1,000 points. so we ll start with this latest news out of south africa. that s where we find cnn s david mckenzie live in johannesburg. what are you hearing from south african health officials today? alex, just a short time ago the south african health mi
is facing a tougher than expected race. your party spent months trying to negotiate the centerpiece of your domestic legislative agenda. why should the world believe that when you say america is back that it is? because the way they reacted. you were here. they wanted to know what our views were. we helped lead what happened here. i didn t run to determine how well i m going to do in the polls. i ran to make sure that i followed through on what i said i would do as president of the united states. martha: rough patch to be sure for president biden when you look at polls like these. these are brand new numbers that we just got from marist today. democrats and democrat-leaning independents were asked, do you think that democrats have a better chance of winning the presidency in 2024 if joe biden is the party s nominee or if somebody else? 44% said someone else. 36% said joe biden. 20% say they are not sure if they want it to be the current president or another nominee for th