party, with all the bells and whistles and everybody hugging and kissing and wishing each other a happy new year, i would strongly recommend that this year we do not do that. yeah, so if that were your plans, sorry about that. there is also been growing pushback from frontline workers to new cdc guidelines cutting the amount of suggested days to isolate and quarantine in half. the american nurses association saying it is deeply concerned about the changes, citing insufficient evidence and concern for healthcare workers safety. the flight attendant union is also raising a red flag. now, michigan is one of several states hitting pandemic hospitalizations this month. the state department s help now says it will not adopt the shorter isolation quarantine guidelines until it reviews the evidence. while it waits for more information from the cdc, specifically for special populations, and high risk settings. michigan s health officials say this is not the time to relax. let s ge
before are hospitalized with covid. the cdc predicts the entire country will see record hospitalizations in the coming weeks. they also predict more than 44,000 people could die in the next month. for more now, let s tune to cnn s tom foreman. reporter: the skyrocketing record levels of new infections have health officials playing defense in every way. we haven t lost control of it. this is a formidable outbreak. it is unprecedented, the likes of which we have not seen in well over 100 years. reporter: as predicted, the surge is not hitting everyone equally. if you are unvaccinated, you are ten times more likely to be a case and 20 times more likely to be a fatality. we re still getting the data, but what we re hearing from hospitals really across the nation, and this is very consistent, is that the vast majority of the children who are being admitted are unvaccinated. reporter: so many people are being affected, many states are reporting near-record highs. maryla
omicron, they re not perfect. but to bottom line it, basing this on what dr. fauci said this morning, they are still useful. imperfect but useful. let s talk about what they re good for and what they re not quite as useful for. if this test says that you have covid, then you almost certainly have covid. if the test says you don t have covid, that s where you get more questions. now, the folks at abbott labs, they make the test widely used in the united states. we reached out to them. this is what they had to say. we ve conducted lab analyses and tests on the omicron variant from live virus including those from the first u.s. omicron case at equivalent sensitivity as other variants. that led us to think, hmm, how good has it been in general? this is the data on the cdc s website. let s pretend that you have covid. we know you have covid because you took a pcr test. we know you have covid and you have symptoms. the rapid test is going to be wrong 35% of the time. it s going to
fda about at-home antigen tests, it s a little confusing, the fda saying those tests are not as sensitive to detecting omicron, but the white house team stressed the at-home tests still offer, quote, an important use. jeremy diamond joins me. jeremy, i know you just spoke to the covid-19 response director. what did he tell you? reporter: that s right, i asked at the coronavirus briefing specifically about the 500 million happen at-home tests that the white house is set to ship to americans beginning next month. and the news that he gave me is that they re still in the process of finalizing the contract to obtain those. but he says he does expect that contract to be completed late next week. of course, that would be the end of the first week of january. meaning that americans likely won t begin to see see the at-home covid tests until end of january. he said the details are forthcoming still in terms exactly how the white house is going to finalize the delivery mechanism for
the inferksctions are spreag quickly and rising rapidly. a fuel in coronavirus cases. we re particularly worried about those who are in that unvaccinated class. those are the most vulnerable ones. and a carnival cruise ship returns to miami packed with passengers and new cases of the coronavirus. there is a lot about this moment that is frustrating but we have the power today to have an impact on tomorrow. remembering archbishop desmon tutu. we either survive together or we ll be dammed together. looking back at the noble prize winning life on a towering figure on the right for human rights. hi, everyone, i m amara walker. pamela brown has the evening off. you re live in the cnn newsroom. millions of people around the world right now spending this christmas weekend gathered with friends and family but the coronavirus is taking no time off this holiday season. as new infections race toward record highs across the united states. new cases have already surpassed