In. u.s. covid hospitalizations have now surpassed the peak seen from the delta variant. that was in september. nearly 113,000 people are currently hospitalized with covid. a large number of infections has forced everything from schools to airlines, hospitals, to cut back or modify services. cnn s alexander field explains. we cannot feed into hysteria. this is traumatizing our cu children. reporter: in an unprecedented covid surge, new york city s new mayor insisting schools really are the safest place for children. i need my cities to open, and we have to be safe. we have to double down on vaccinations and booster shots. we have to double down on testing, but we have to reshape our thinking of how do we live with covid. reporter: the vast majority of schools throughout the country are pressing on and keeping students in the classroom. what we have learned over the past two years is that there s significant risk keeping children out of school.
And ensure what we re seeing in adults, what we re seeing in other countries experienced broadly holds up when you look at young children. the best advice that i have is to try and reduce the chances that your children get covid by following public health advice. that public health advice, as you know, dr. besser, to date, you hear this we heard it again on cnn this morning from the surgeon general, which is going to school is just fine with mitigation. mask wearing, better ventilation, et cetera. as you look at this data, do you think that advice holds? well, you know, i don t think it is fair to say just fine. and the reason i say that is that everything we do has some risks. what we have learned over the past two years is that there is significant risk keeping children out of school. risk in terms of not just educational learning, but socialization, and mental health and all kinds of things that are really, really important. and we put the big emphasis over
Thinking of how do we live with covid? reporter: the vast majority of schools throughout the country are pressing on and keeping students in the classroom. what we ve learned over the past two years is that there s significant risk keeping children out of school. reporter: but, according to the data company burbio, more than 3200 schools are going remote or delaying returns from winter break. l.a. unified school district, the tleeft push back its start date by one day and require proof of a negative test. in chicago, the powerful teachers union is threatening a walkout over decisions to bring students back to the classroom. contact tracing and vaccination efforts by her administration have been an abject failure. reporter: across the country, pediatric hospitalizations are still rare but now at a record high, spurring questions over whether children are being hospitalized for covid or with covid. as well as questions about the impact of omicron on children. now those childr
Today and the leadership they really don t think she s made a decision yet. the bottom line is republican leaders, by the way she was and is a member of the leadership this is the last thing they want is for her to wage her own, you know, write-in campaign because they want to back the republican candidate, they don t want anything at all that could risk keeping that alaska seat in republican hands. they have enough to worry about. look it was to give you color from capitol hill it was interesting to watch, first day back in the senate today, there was a moment where she was huddled, we could see through the glass window, huddled off the senate chamber with blanche lincoln, another embattled democrat and olympia snowe, talking for 30 minutes and it was pretty clear that they were consoling her. it was very interesting. we have to unfortunately end this one here. when we come back, three very, very smart democrats, we ll put them on the hot seat, too, talking about pressures on th