after christmas, it is the race to return with two out of three shoppers planning to send things back where do all those unwanted items wind up america under pressure a critical worker shortage as pharmacies and the potentially dangerous impact on patients. and the show must go on as covid sidelines some of broadway s stars it s the understudies stepping up and inspiring america. this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. good evening i m kristin welker in for lester there is late, breaking news tonight. the cdc announcing it will shorten isolation periods for asymptomatic people infected or exposed to covid from 10 to 5 days the move comes as covid cases are soaring. creating worker shortages across the country. and the airline industry hit particularly hard. today alone at least 1,200 flights canceled in part because of covid-related staff shortages. the country on pace to reach another difficult milestone, averaging close to 200,000 new cases per day, approaching a
good morning and welcome to way too early, the show that is glad to be in the final days of 2021. i m jonathan lemire on this tuesday, december 28th. let s start with the news. the cdc is out with new covid guidelines, shortening the recommended isolation and quarantine times for those who test positive or are exposed to the virus. this comes as the fast-spreading omicron variant puts pressures on hospitals, airlines, and other businesses. here s a look at the new recommendations. those who test positive but have no symptoms should now isolate for just five days instead of ten followed by five days of mask wearing. the clock starts the day you test positive. this is important. the guideline is the same regardless of vaccination status. that s raised a few eyebrows. the quarantine time for those who v covid has also been cut. those who are boosted or have been fully vaccinated within the last six months can skip quarantine, test on day five, and wear a mask for ten days. tho
the cdc is out with new guidelines shortening the recommending isolation of quarantine time for those who tested positive or expose todd the virus. this comes as the fast omicron variant puts pressure on airlines and other businesses. nbc news. reporter: testing for the virus reaches by a crisis point. by 5:00, the lines in south florida already forming with the prospect of free covid testing kits. what are you seeing in shelves? they re all in stock and fine, i guess they all disappeared in a matter of three days like they were not there. reporter: at this library at miami-dade county, you are looking at two different lines. this is for free testing kits. this is for testing on-site. both of them snake around the building in both directions with no end in sight. a national crisis, chaos in lines from new york and miami and dallas. we have more work to do and quadruple number of pharmacies offering free test and they are now more than 20,000 places where you can get
seven-day case average since mid january. that plus a concerning development in new york where more and more patients admitted to hospitals are children, many not fully vaccinated or not vaccinated at all. we re going to get into that. plus, the incredible strain medical workers are facing nationwide. we ll also dig into severe weather forcing many in the west to dig themselves out. wild blizzards blanketing massive swaths of the west, plunging temperatures below freezing, burying cities under feet of snow and triggering a massive 20-car pileup in nevada. and just weeks after president biden and vladimir putin held a virtual call, the white house confirms a second round of talks planned in just two weeks as tensions rage on the russia/ukraine border. we re going to break down everything we know in minutes. we start with our team covering the latest on the omicron variant across the country. mike memoli is in delaware with president biden.brewster joins . dr. hotez, we wan
number is much higher. what you might not know about how to report positive at-home tests and why you should. another day of travel disruptions with new flight delays and cancellations. all as the cdc changes those isolation guidelines for people who test positive. what it means for you ahead. good tuesday afternoon, everybody. we re going to start with shaquille brewster, sam brock, and dr. tyson bell from the university of virginia. shaq, you re at one of the hospital where u.s. navy medical workers are on the scene. what are you seeing? this is an example of what we heard from president biden yesterday. he said that, yes, states will take the lead in responding to this new surge, but there will be federal support this is a team of military members, 20 military members arriving at this hospital for a month-long deployment. and while they i did speak to some in the command staff who are in that military uniform, many of the people going in, part of the military are ess