right now, 37 states detected the new variant. west virginia becoming the latest. in new york, the positivity test rate is doubling at a speed never seen before. forcing officials to debate whether new year s eve at times square, expecting a return to prepandemic crowds of thousands, should be canceled now. in a sports world, the nba and nfl and nhl are all changing covid-19 protocols in hopes of preventing the cancellations of games. and this year s miss world competition in puerto rico is now postponed after 23 of the 97 contestants tested positive. we should say this as well, amidala amid all the warnings there is a silver lining. despite record-breaking daily case rates, hospital admissions continue to be lower than previous waves. still, g-7 health ministers are calling omicron the biggest current threat to global public health. our team following all of the latest. let s begin with shimon prokupecz on the ground in new