unvaccinated. nonetheless, the arrival of the omicron variant in this country has sparked some cancellations. stanford and harvard are the latest universities to announce online learning starting in january. the national hockey league has halted cross-border games between the u.s. and canada this week. and this afternoon, president biden will meet with his covid-19 advisers in the oval office. he is expected to address the nation tomorrow on exactly how the administration is going to respond to this new surge. cnn health reporter jacqueline howard, also cnn national correspondent jason carroll are following the developments this morning. jacqueline, let s begin with you. we always try to take the good with the bad here. the data has been clear throughout, this remains largely a pandemic for the unvaccinated. we have some good news on moderna and its booster shots. tell us what we re learning. that s right, jim. we have some good news from moderna this morning. preliminary
in cases as delta and omicron fuel what experts call a grim pandemic outlook. the u.s. is averaging 130,000 new infections a day. that s 10% higher than a week ago and up from 70,000 at the beginning of november. new york city once again is the epicenter of this surge just days before thousands of people are expected to be packing times square for the big new year s eve celebration. dr. anthony fauci putting out this warning. this virus is extraordinary. it has a doubling time of anywhere from two to three days. right now, in certain regions of the country, 50% of the isolates are omicron, which means it s going to take over. that surge in cases includes three members of congress now and a sitting governor. senators elizabeth warren and cory booker as well as congressman jason crowe have tested positive. and maryland governor larry hogan as said he s tested positive, all of them vaccinated with booster shots and say their symptoms are mild, thankfully. there s also some p