nbc s lindsey riser is at a covid testing site. heidi przybyla broke the news story on msnbc.com about a new covid strategy for the biden administration on schools. and also with me have a doctor who is a professor at a school of medicine, also the director of the institute for auto immune and rheumatic diseases at st. joseph health. a big thanks to all of you. heidi, let s start with your brand new reporting. it has to do with a test to stay strategy for kids in school. how does that work? the white house is concerned about major disruptions at hospitals and schools amid omicron today. we learned they re about to outline a plan. most children learning virtually. we have new dayty and updated guidance showing the effectiveness of an approach called test to stay. basically it involves frequent rapid testing of students. at least two times a week and robust contact tracing. the game-changer here is that
jose, as you were saying, european countries are also looking to impose restrictions. the european union is really struggling with a severe delta surge right now. austria is in a nationwide lockdown. france is imposing new restrictions today. and the absolute last thing they need in europe right now is an aggressive new variant showing up and complicating what is already a very difficult picture there. jose. raph in tel aviv, gabe in new york. thank you for being with me. let s turn to our doctors. the founder and ceo of advancing health equity, and an msnbc medical contributor. and also a professor at the director of the institute for auto immune and rheumatic diseases at st. joseph health. thank you for being with me. dr. blackstock, what is this new variant, what makes it so concerning? well, thank you so much for