across america. new cases are now topping a record 400,000 a day and hospitalizations, which i want to note consist of mostly the unvaccinated according to the cdc, have crossed the 100,000 mark for the first time in yearly four months. just a few moments ago, a doctor at texas children s hospital calling the number of kids admitted to there staggering, adding the main reason for the admissions is because of omicron. so we are not talking about kids who happen to have omicron, and are tested when they show up at a hospital for something else. he is saying, no, the staggering, use of that word staggering, applies to kids who are coming to the hospital because of omicron. but as those cases hit epic levels across the country, vaccinated people are mostly not getting sick. and that has changed the game. florida s governor, a champion of individual freedoms who, of course, has strongly opposed both covid masking and vaccine mandates is now on the same page as the mayor of new yor
fda signed off on booster doses of pfizer s vaccine for 12 to 15-year-olds and shortened the waiting period between second and third doses to five months from six. meantime, testing remains hard to get. questions about how dangerous low omicron is in general, and specifically to kids remain unanswered. early developments on that front as well. guidelines on isolation. the effectiveness of home testing kits, mask wearing remain confusing or controversial and sometimes even cri contradictory. feels like a lot to process because it is a lot to process so tonight we want to devote plenty of time to answering the questions most of us still have. our randi kaye starts us off with a quick rundown. reporter: what are we supposed to think about rapid tests? the fda has announced that rapid-antigen tests may be less sensitive to picking up the omicron variant. meaning, they will spot an infection less often. pcr tests are considered the gold standard. but the fda still suggests peopl
over seven days the jury reaching a verdict tonight conspiracy trial of elizabeth holmes. the former ceo of the latest on the spike of covid-19 cases. if you look at the up tick. it s actually almost vertical increase. amida tsunami of cases the daily average topping 400,000 for the first time. adding layers of protection. authorizing booster shots for kids 12 to 15. shortening the window between the initial doses of a vaccine and the booster shot. for everyone. from six months to five. and authorizing a third dose of vaccine for some immune compromised children. between ages of five and 11. all that as the omicron surge brings with it a growing number of hospitalizations. more than 100,000 people are currently hospitalized with covid-19 for the first time in nearly four months. even that stark figure is lower than we have seen during other surges. the one group that maybe a problem for it very young kids. toddlers who have trouble with upper air way infections. we
but it is not just cases that are rising. so is the number of people needing hospital care. even as more healthcare workers get sent home sick. teachers, as well. with millions of kids going back to school today, mostly in person but in several large school districts they have gone back to remote learn for the time being. against that backdrop, today the fda signed off on booster doses of pfizer s vaccine for 12 to 15-year-olds and shortened the waiting period between second and third doses to five months from six. meantime, testing remains hard to get. questions about how dangerous low omicron is in general, and specifically to kids remain unanswered. early developments on that front as well. guidelines on isolation. the effectiveness of home testing kits, mask wearing remain confusing or controversial and sometimes even contradictory. feels like a lot to process because it is a lot to process so tonight we want to devote plenty of time to answering the questions most of us
For public health. so, sanjay, this is the first we have spoken since the omicron surge really took hold weeks ago. what do you make of what s and confusion over guidance from the government. yeah. well, happy new year, right? here we are back, again. i mean, i think there is a couple things that have really struck me. one as you just heard in randi s report is that the the number of cases is is really it s pretty staggering, right? if you compare this to last year s peak around this time, we are about, you know, close approaching two times what we saw around this time last year. now, at the same time, we have about 75% of the hospitalizations and this gets to that point that people have been making. look. this may be less severe for various reasons, because we have some existing immunity, because of the nature of this omicron variant, itself. who knows? we are not sure, entirely. but there does seem to be this decoupling of cases. but what you have heard, again, from randi