had a vaccine at all. i will say this, if you have omicron and looking in the rear view mirror, you have a super booster out of that not only that finding in a study from south africa yesterday that omicron actually decreases your ability to get delta. it actually gives you antibodies to delta. not just omicron. so in the rear view mirror, omicron is actually going to lead to a situation where we re going to get milder disease and may even get out of pandemic. but you don t want to get there by deliberately getting this virus. bret: yeah. last thing. and very quickly. speaking of south africa. you wrote a great op-ed about south africa canned unfortunately that affected them negatively but they have been pretty good when it comes to covid, fighting covid. you know, there are great scientists there they re the first to warn us about covid way back in early 2020. and then they came forward and they figured out that omicron was it can get you even if you had previous covid or if had y
holiday surge although the less severe omicron may mean fewer hospital visits. people looking to get tested are still finding long lines and delays getting results. this comes as thousands of travelers nationwide additional flight delays. and president biden criticism for saying there is no federal solution for is popping the sto. rehoboth beach traveling with the president who kept to himself. mike tobin at airport where flight cancellation and delays travelers trying to return home from the holidays. we start with steve harrigan in atlanta home of the cdc. good evening, steve. bret, good evening. the cdc made it official saying omicron is the most dominant strain of covid right now in the u.s. 58.6% cases in the u.s. are
secure 500 million at home tests to send americans free. though some governors worry that plan may hamper their plans to buy kits. the production of 500 million rapid tests that will be districted by the federal government but obviously that drives up the supply chain for the solutions that we might offer as governor. with more at home testing kits, there are concerns among health officials americans will refuse to share positive tests with local governments. meaning they may miss the full extent of omicron s spread. the president canceled another travel ban today. this was the one focused on several countries in southern africa about a month old. designed to slow the spread of omicron in the u.s., not needed anymore from the onset. the president also just briefly spoke with reporters. he was out taking his new dog commander for a walk. he says he has been on the phone much of the time here and that he has made some progress in
coordinator there is no accountability. bret: criticism is building for the biden administration on the issue of covid. something that he obviously ran on as a candidate to get leecketted. back with the panel. harold, how big a problem politically is this about the testing and about where we are with what the administration has done so far? well, this is a shortcoming. we should have more tests. i listened to the previous speaker there. and he is right. i do think those who are being critical of the administration around the testing have every right to do that. but i would hope it would give them some credit for urging people to be vaccinated. one thing we do know is our greatest weapon against hospitalization and death whether it s omicron and fortunately, thankfully, prayerfully omicron seems to be affecting people in a milder way. the real weapon against delta and against covid-19 in terms of hospitalization and worse is being vaccinated.
states. reports that the bruins defensive line hit hard by covid. bret? bret: steve harrigan live in atlanta. thanks. tough for people who traveled out there for football game. with new year s eve around the corner, speaking of travel. holiday travel troubles not letting up. hundreds more flights canceled today on top of the thousands rounded since christmas eve. some airlines are blaming staffing shortages in part on the omicron variant. senior correspondent mike tobin is live at chicago o hare international airport tonight. good evening, mike. bret: okay. we will go back to mike once we have him there you go, mike? yeah, i m here. i hope we are okay. i was just telling you that i spoke with an airline spokesman who said they are moving staff around trying to fill staffing shortages, turns out the weather