good morning, america. omicron spread. states reporting an explosion of cases and covid among children rising sharply. the changes suggested to get healthcare workers back on the job more quickly, but is the president for it? christmas flightmare. airlines canceling thousands of flights, covid illnesses sidelining flight crews. the latest from the airports. plus, the best and worst times to travel by car. christmas storms. heavy snow batters the west. 27 million americans under winter weather alerts across 19 states. our weather team tracking it all. remembering desmond tutu. south africa's nobel peace prize-winning activist passing away at 90.

the critical part he played in the fight for racial justice.re. too big, too small, too tight, just not right? what you need to know to make sending it back simple, and the deadlines from some major retailers. royal christmas. the queen delivering her most personal christmas message ever. >> that mischievous, inquiring twinkle, was just as bright at the end as when i met him. >> the royals who spent the day with the queen. and kate middleton's surprise piano performance. and christmas clashes. the holiday in the nba. steph, lebron, and giannis headlining the action with giannis making up for lost time. what the nba commissioner is saying about the rest of the season. good sunday morning, america. thank you for joining us the day after christmas.

whit and eva are waking up with their families. it's so great to have will reeve here with me as we welcome back espn's matt barrie. you guys know each other from espn. >> friends and former colleagues. back together. >> what a reunion. day after christmas. another christmas miracle. back with you. >> there you go. you guys were just talking some sports stuff. >> we talk about the sports. a lot to get to though this morning. the covid case count is shooting up across the nation with the number of children hospitalized rising significantly. here in new york city, since the start of the month, pediatric hospitalizations have gone up fourfold. >> the navy has said that the coronavirus outbreak has sidelined one of its warships just before deployment to south america. the "uss milwaukee" will remain in port at guantanamo bay and will not go to cuba. all crew members have been fully

vaccinated. >> that rise in cases factoring into flight cancellations nationwide. more than 2,000 just since christmas eve, stranding thousands of travelers. american, delta, united and jetblue all citing covid for causing crew shortages. for that, and all the latest on the current state of covid, abc's phil lipof is outside a testing center in new york city. phil, good morning. >> reporter: will, good morning to you. coming off of christmas, one of the biggest gathering holidays in our country, medical experts say they're concerned that we're going to see more positive covid cases, and that is on top of the surge that we are already in. this morning, covid infections, hospitalizations, and deaths are on the rise as the highly transmissible omicron variant spreads. new york doubling its daily positive case numbers in just a week, and ohio recording 443 deaths in just 24 hours. an infectious disease physician of tufts medical center in boston says the numbers are high, but not unexpected. >> we're going to find more children, more elderly, more

vaccinated, more everything with covid when covid cases are this prevalent. >> reporter: in miami, long lines for testing on christmas day. florida reporting nearly 100,000 more cases last week than the week prior, and more long lines in charlotte. >> i have been here for three hours. they're obviously doing what they can, but i think the pressure is on the people who provide the service. >> reporter: cars packing this parking lot even before it opened on christmas day. >> within the last seven days, our testing has quadrupled from the week before. >> reporter: pediatric hospitalizations are surging too. in new york and other parts of the country. ohio, texas, pennsylvania hit particularly hard. according to the american academy of pediatrics, 170,000 children testing positive for covid last week, an increase of nearly 28% in just two weeks. the spikes leaving many frontline workers stretched thin, leading the cdc to issue an alert outlining contingency plans for rising cases. now recommending vaccinated and

boosted healthcare workers who test positive can return to work after seven days if they're not experiencing symptoms. if staffing shortages or hospitalizations reach crisis levels, the cdc recommending those same workers should return to work after five days. president biden says he thinks the general public should keep isolating for ten days after a positive test. >> i just listen to my -- my team of the docs, and they think we should keep it the way it is for now. >> reporter: all of this coming as families across the country spend the weekend gathering, celebrating christmas together. >> and so i expect that we will see a lot more. we're going to see that exponential growth continue for a few more weeks. >> reporter: and cruise ships have been hit hard as well having to skip destinations because of outbreaks on board, and this morning, we have learned that three members of the worldwide sensation k-pop band bts have tested positive for covid as well. their management group tells us

all three have had their second shot. janai? >> all right, phil, thank you so much for those updates. and now to the growing holiday travel delays. airlines already having canceled thousands of flights in part due to covid and crew shortages. abc's zohreen shah is live at l.a.x. this morning. zohreen, good morning to you. those cancellations already making travel tricky for so many. >> reporter: hey, good morning, janai. yeah, traveling during the holidays is never easy, but it's especially hard this year. across the country, over 600 flights canceled today, and all of this comes after 1,600 flights were canceled on christmas eve and christmas day. all this creating major havoc across airports. delta, jetblue, and united all canceling around 100 flights at this hour. you can see this video of stranded travelers in south florida, and the same scene playing out across the country especially in big hubs like newark airport. so what is the reason behind many of these cancellations?

well, major airlines are reporting omicron impacts. american airlines saying their operation has been running smoothly, but unfortunately a number of covid-related sick calls led to pre-canceling some flights. delta says a number of issues including weather in some areas of the country and the omicron variant are driving cancellations and potential delays. united also saying this nationwide spike in omicron cases this week has had a direct impact on flight crews and the people who run their operation. now, while there are many cancellations, these make up just a very small percentage of all total flights. still, you guys had the right idea. not getting on a plane this weekend in addition to all these cancellations, of course, the big impacts due to just regular delays and bad weather in parts of the country. janai? >> all right, zohreen, thank you so much for that. and joining us now is dr. john brownstein of boston children's hospital. dr. brownstein, thank you so much for being here the day after christmas. we are seeing case levels in some states that we haven't seen in months.

how concerned are you about this omicron wave? >> you know, this is really concerning. we're seeing cases now surpass the delta wave, you know, averaging over 170,000 cases a day. i think we can all relate given how many cases we're seeing around us, and while it's good news that this variant is less severe, just the sheer number of infections means we have reached hospital capacity, and we're seeing overwhelmed e.r.s across the country, and it's so important to double down on vaccinations, testing, masking, all the things that we know work to keep transmission down in the community. >> and to that point, the hospitals and cdc guidelines now shortening isolation time for healthcare workers if they test positive. do you think that could help those hospitals that could be crushed with patients? >> you know, i think it will. we don't know the optimal isolation time for omicron, but, of course, this change means that our healthcare workers might not be stuck in isolation at a time when we need our hospitals to be functioning. these guidelines don't apply to the public. that might change in the future,

but for now, we need our hospitals running to potentially deal with a surge in the coming weeks. >> and dr. brownstein, you are a parent like i am, so it is concerning for parents when you hear that pediatric cases are rising. here in new york, there are reports of a fourfold increase since early december of children being hospitalized here in the new york city area. what does that tell you? >> we don't know yet if omicron affects kids differently. but the reality is so many of our children remain unvaccinated. about only a third of children under 18 are fully vaccinated at this point, and while we know, you know, covid is less severe in our kids, we also know that it has had a real impact in our kids across severe illness and death, and that is why, you know, it's so important for those who are eligible and around especially our children under 5 to get the vaccine, to be vaccinated and really cocoon them and protect them especially as we're entering the surge. >> i know you mentioned before

about the severity of omicron. what do we know about how severe or less severe omicron cases are? >> we're finally getting good data coming in from different countries and it's showing actually good news. about 50% to 70% lower risk of hospitalization when it comes to omicron. this is something that, you know, we're excited about because with this many infections, you'd want hospitalization risks to be lower, but that tells us that with this many cases, we still have this concern. so yes, there's room to be optimistic about omicron, but we can't let our guard down as we're entering into these coming weeks. >> and dr. brownstein, real quickly, why is this variant moving so fast? >> it's because of these mutations that has accumulated on the spike protein, that increases its transmissibility and immune evasion, and this is why it's spreading two to three tmes faster than the delta variant. this is why we have this concern, and now is time to double down, vaccination, masking, reduce mobility. let's get through these next few weeks together. >> that social distancing and isolation, all of that. dr. brownstein, thank you so much for being with

us. matt, over to you. now to a key question for tens of millions of americans planning to travel back home this morning, when to leave to avoid delays. abc's zachary kiesch joins us with some answers. zachary, good morning. >> reporter: matt, good morning to you as well. you know, the ride home from grandma's crib really starts today for so many people. some hundred million people were expected to travel over this holiday weekend, and this is really the first wave headed home. travel platform hopper considers today to be the third busiest travel day of the year. translation, there's going to be traffic out there, and you should expect delays. at the airport, 2.4 million people are traveling, a pace we've really been seeing the last number of days. atlanta's airport is still considered by many to be the busiest. they're not alone. plan accordingly. if you have been driving around new york city the last number of days, it has been a dream, but the roads will start to see some traffic again as well. the best times to roll out are going to be before 12:00 noon, that sweet spot for high traffic is 1:00 to 7:00.

again, between 1:00 and 7:00, you're going to see a lot of traffic on the road. new york city is experiencing some of the biggest bottlenecks in the country. now, on monday, road traffic in some areas are expected to be more than 350% of the typical flow. so again, anticipate road conditions to be problematic moving into tomorrow, and if you are worried about cancellations or delays at the airport, your best bet is to look at that before you head to the airport. if you need to make changes, you can do that online, and you can also look into insurance and see what other kind of protections you have. janai? >> from grandmother's house, so many go. zachary, thank you so much. we want to turn now to the breaking news overnight. south africa's president announcing the death of activist archbishop desmond tutu. james longman has more on the man known affectionately as the arch. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, janai.

desmond tutu was a towering figure in south africa's anti-apartheid movement. he was of course, a contemporary of nelson mandela, he helped end that racist system of segregation. he went on to become an iconic spiritual leader. he'll be remembered as a man of peace who spent most of his life fighting inequality, poverty, and injustice. now he became the first black archbishop of cape town, but it was really his childhood that was spent under south africa's brutally enforced apartheid system. his protests were both hard-hitting and nonviolent. he was actually the first to campaign for economic sanctions. tutu encouraged disinvestment, and it was that in 1985, when the u.s. and uk stopped all investments in south africa that crippled the south african economy and that forced the government into reforming, and when the international community awarded him the nobel peace prize in 1984, he accepted it on behalf of a movement. it signaled really the beginning of the end for apartheid. free elections were held in

1994, and at 63 years old, tutu cast his first vote. in 2009, president barack obama awarded him the presidential medal of freedom. have a listen. >> desmond tutu possesses that sense of generosity, that spirit of unity, that essence of humanity that south africans know simply as -- [ speaking foreign language ] >> tutu was 90 years old when he died. what a man. what a legacy. will. >> james longman, that essence of humanity, a towering figure, a man of peace. james, thank you so much. and we're going to shift now to politics as president biden marks the holidays and it approaches the end of his first year in office. abc's maryalice parks is live at the white house with more. maryalice, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. president biden and the first lady chose to spend the christmas holiday right here in the nation's capital at the white house with their family. sort of special for their first year. yesterday they sat with their brand-new puppy and called members of military stationed around the world and thanked them for their service. on christmas eve, they were out

and around town. president biden visited children at the national children's hospital. he attended mass virtually, but also stopped by a christmas tree downtown. the president said his message to americans was to keep the faith, and in a written statement this christmas, he had a similar theme. he said that this year we've seen enormous courage, character, resilience, and resolve, and that they are praying for, quote, the promise found in scripture of finding light in darkness which also happens to be perhaps the most american of things to do. now, president biden plans to spend some time home in delaware this week coming up. vice president kamala harris is back in her home state of california with family. her team says that she received two more negative covid tests. both her and the president have been receiving more tests this week after they both had close contact with staff members who tested positive with breakthrough cases earlier this week. will?

>> maryalice parks with everything going on in washington, thank you. be sure to tune into "this week" later this morning. jonathan karl goes one-on-one with dr. fauci on the president biden's plan to combat the omicron variant. plus, dr. ashish jha will discuss how to stay safe this holiday week. matt? now to the spectacular christmas day launch of a space telescope. astronomers are counting on the on s observatory to give them a view of 14 billion years deep into the past for new clues about the origin of the universe. after years of setbacks, and a week of technical glitches and high winds on christmas eve that forced one more delay, on christmas day the telescope took off successfully aboard a european rocket. on board is a massive telescope with a giant gold-plated mirror more than 21 feet across. the new telescope will replace

the aging hubble telescope that was put into orbit by a space shuttle crew in 1990. the hubble did make breathtaking images, but needed in-space repairs by another shuttle crew. it will be parked 1 million miles from earth, that's four times the distance from the earth to the moon. while it's named for the man who ran nasa in its glory days, the telescope is an international project involving nasa, the canadian and european space agencies and workers from 29 countries. now the journey will take more than a month to completely unfold, and setting up the telescope there take five months. we still have to be patient to see deep into the universe's past. >> a million miles from earth. >> that's a long roundtrip. >> at least they don't have to deal with the traffic. >> that's true. time now for weather and we are joined with danielle breezy from our nashville affiliate wkrn-tv, while rob marciano is off. danielle, so great to have you with us.

>> thanks, janai. i'm so happy to be here, and so excited to represent nashville right now. you see behind me, this is famous broadway. nice and quiet now. the weather if nashville has been nice and quiet. that's not the case across the country. take a look at this video. this is from strong storms that rolled through southern california and santa barbara, california. it knocked down power lines and did structural damage from what could be a microburst or a possible tornado. in fact, to the north, we also had limited visibilities and lots of snow, this closed down parts of i-80 in truckee, california. more snow in that area as we head into today. we have storm alerts across the western third of the country impacting 27 million people. in fact, we have winter weather alerts as well as wind alerts with wind gusts up to possibly 70 miles per hour.

and while the west is dealing with winter weather, unfortunately in nashville, we're waiting patiently for our first measurable snow. that's the latest. back to you. >> all rightl, danielle breezy with the perfect name for weather. >> perfect. we're going to move now from weather to sports. covid is touching every element of daily life, and major professional leagues are no exception. the nba has been hit

particularly hard with the rising cases, over 100 players out just this month, but the league appears determined to play on which it did on christmas. its annual marquee day featuring a-list players and teams including stephen curry and the golden state warriors who put o star-studded tradition. an all-day, all-you-can watch r steph curry, lebron james, and giannis antetokounmpo headlining the christmas spectacle, but the bright lights of the nba's annual showcase have been dimmed. like so many aspects of holiday life nationwide by the spread of the omicron variant. the league postponing seven games just last week with 127 players entering health and safety protocols due to covid-19 in the month of december. one of the teams hit hardest by

the virus, the boston celtics, on christmas facing the defending champion milwaukee bucks with two-time reigning mvp giannis antetokounmpo returning to the lineup from his own covid-related absence. he scored 36 points and led the bucks to a dramatic win. the new york knicks kicked off the christmas slate with a win at home over the atlanta hawks while lebron james and the lakers fell to the brooklyn nets who welcomed back james harden from the covid list while losing kevin durant to it. >> harden for the beautiful move. >> reporter: the marquee matchup of the day saw steph curry and the warriors hold off chris paul, devin booker, and the phoenix suns on abc. the dallas mavericks down star doncic due to covid, and the utah jazz unlike any other. during a season unlike any other. the nba commissioner adam silver is determined to continue without pause. >> no plans right now to pause the season. we have, of course, looked at all the options, but frankly,

we're having trouble coming up with what the logic would be behind pausing right now. >> according to espn, the nba and the nba players association are negotiating a reduction in the ten-day quarantine requirement for players who test positive for covid. the two sides are discussing bringing that down to six days. >> there's that espn that you had. >> yep. so good. still coming up here, the queen's holiday message. the british monarch marking her first christmas without prince philip. we'll be right back. "good morning america" is sponsored by target. black pumas] come in for workout gear, leave feeling empowered. come in for snack time, leave more fulfilled. because when you shop at target, you leave with what you value most. like healthy foods for your family and brands that lift our communities. at target, the things that matter are always within reach.

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specially decorated christmas trees. last month, judges chose a winner based on the university department representation and overall design. this year's winner was the fashion department. now we check in with lisa argen on the sunday morning. lisa: a bit of a break in the action over all but you can see scattered showers all over san francisco to the south bay. a look at the golden gate bridge and it is quiet. scattered showers increase their out the day today into monday and it is a chilly afternoon. julian:

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if you had spoken such insolence, he would have fed you to his menagerie. >> welcome back to "gma" on this sunday morning. boxing day. almost boba fett day. the countdown is on. the latest offering from the "star wars" universe is almost here. that is set to be released on disney plus. not confirmed whether matt barrie wears darth vader pjs. what do you got for us? >> confirmed. you know what i love? i love the bundle, disney plus, disney, hulu. >> company man. >> disney is the parent of abc news. let's take a look at some of th other big stories we're following this morning. happening right now, officials

in spain declaring the volcanic eruption that started in september finished after ten consecutive days of no activity. the fiery lava there destroying 3,000 structures, ruining farms and vineyards. blocking off roads, causing millions in damage. fortunately though and incredibly no deaths or injuries have been attributed to the eruption. also happening right now, los angeles' staples center has officially changed its name. as of christmas day, the lakers and for a little while longer the clippers now call it crypto.com arena. that is their home. the deal is believed to be the richest naming rights agreement in sports history. the lakers lost the inaugural event there last night. and friends, there is still a chance. there was no christmas powerball miracle. no winning ticket was sold for the christmas day drawing worth some $400 million, so you get another chance. that jackpot is expected to climb to $416 million for monday's drawing. if i was a good teammate, i would have bought us some

tickets for stocking stuffers. >> i'm going alone. i'm on my own. >> i don't consider sharing. >> you may have to talk about that if you win. we start this half-hour with christmas looking different this year for britain's royal family, with the queen delivering her most personal christmas speech ever. abc's james longman is outside of london with more. james, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, matt. elizabeth has given her christmas day message every year since she became queen, but i think it's fair to say there's never been a more personal address. she spoke of course, about the loss of her husband prince philip this year and the losses we've all felt because of covid. ♪ >> reporter: this christmas, another year of celebrations for the royal family. the queen delivering her annual christmas message but the first without her late husband prince philip. >> christmas can be hard for those who have lost loved ones. this year especially i understand why. that mischievous inquiring

twinkle was as bright at the end as when i first set eyes on him. >> reporter: also celebrating new additions to the family. >> we have the chance to reminisce and see anew the wonder of the festive season through the eyes of our young children, of whom we were delighted to welcome four more this year. >> reporter: one of those, lilibet diana appearing for the first time in a christmas card shared by prince harry and meghan markle. the other royals joining in on the holiday cheer, prince charles and his wife camilla on their way to church in windsor. kate middleton also making a surprise piano performance of "for those who can't be here" with tom walker. >> also we've been emotionally and socially distanced and isolated from each other. i suppose through that separation we've also realized how much we need each other, and how acts of kindness and love can really bring us comfort and relief in times of distress. >> reporter: and kate's skills

on the piano, i mean, who knew? everyone in this country is raging about that. now the queen of course looked forward to her platinum jubilee next year in that message. she will have spent 70 years on the british throne, longer than any other monarch. pretty incredible. janai? >> absolutely incredible, james. we love that everyone is raging about kate's performance. james, thank you so much. time now for a check of weather, and we're all raging about danielle breezy from our nashville affiliate, wkrn-tv, and danielle, we did some digging and we found out that breezy is your real last name and you married into it. job well done, girlfriend. >> i love that you guys did some digging about me. yes i'm lucky, i married joe breezy, his radio name. when i met him, i knew i had to marry him. here in nashville, it's warm here. warm across the southeast. i want to show you this video this is santa on a paddleboard.

this is at flagler beach just south of jacksonville. could you imagine paddleboarding next to him? it looks pretty cool. in our northern tier, wind chills below zero in several spots. it's quite cold out there this morning. we could record cold low temperatures around portland as well as seattle. as we take a look at our warm high temperatures down to the south, we're talking about highs in the 70s across parts of the region as well as the 60s here in >> this weather forecast sponsored by subaru. by the way, it was a warm

christmas here in nashville. we tied the record at 76. set back in 2016. so we were doing christmas in shorts and t-shirt weather. how about that, guys? thank you for having me. back to you. >> matt barrie has been making heart eyes at dallas. danielle, thank you so much. coming up here on "good morning america," less than perfect. the advice and deadlines for returning those unwanted christmas gifts. and the cast of "bridgerton" joined together for a big announcement about season two. that and more ahead in "pop news." ." (vo) subaru and our retailers believe in giving back. that's why, in difficult times, we provided one hundred and fifty million meals to feeding america. and now through the subaru share the love event, we're helping even more. by the end of this year, subaru will have donated over two hundred and twenty five million dollars to charity.

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and it's like the puzzle pieces have all been [click] put together. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. welcome back to "gma." so you unwrapped all the gifts yesterday. your loved ones may have had your best interest at heart, but sometimes the presents just missed the mark. so we've got some tips and tricks for you as you head out to start returning some things. tip one, keep packages intact. once the packaging is off from some high-priced goods and electronic items, it may not be returnable or you may incur a hefty restocking fee. if opened, so keep those things intact.

tip two, keep track of gift receipts and packaging slips. it is so easy to misplace those critical pieces of paper during the flurry of christmas shopping. if you do have that paperwork or a digital record, most returns are pretty easy to process at most major retailers, and even if you don't have it, most retailers will give you a store credit or a gift card so you can still win there. tip three, be mindful of return policies and time limits. here are the extended return deadlines for some big retailers. walmart has a 90-day return period beginning today, december 26th, for items sold or shipped by walmart from november 1st through december 25th. target also has a 90-day return period beginning today for unopened items sold since october 1st through yesterday, christmas. amazon, a january 31st, 2022, return deadline for most items purchased directly from amazon, from october 1st through december 31st,

and another thing about amazon, since you can get your refund on an amazon gift card, the person whose gift you're returning will never be notified or alerted. it's your little secret. you don't have to tell anybody. coming up here still on "gma," a ton of therapy. can a cow cure what ails you? stick around. stick around. on my travels across the country i came across this house with water dripping from the ceiling. you never know when something like this will happen. so let the geico insurance agency help you with homeowners insurance and protect yourself from things like fire, theft, or in this case, water damage. now if i had to guess i'd say somewhere upstairs there's a broken pipe. geico. save even more when you bundle home and car insurance at geico.com. wow... that's so nice! the gift of ancestry®... is a walk through your history. do you remember who this is? where the more you discover... wow! ...the more you come together. i can see... the nose... this holiday, give the gift of family. give the gift of ancestry®.

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welcome back to "gma." cows and mental health. don't see the connection? well, keep watching. abc's marcus moore visited a farm near los angeles to investigate the benefits, not to mention, the existence of bovine therapy. >> reporter: sometimes the most wonderful time of year can also be the most stressful. ♪

>> hey. does someone need a hug? >> reporter: and like buddy in the hit movie "elf," sometimes we just need a hug. >> i just wanted a hug. >> reporter: but instead of hugging a raccoon, how about a cow? the gentle barn, a sanctuary where visitors can connect with rescued animals is one of the places offering a wellness trend known as cow-hugging therapy. founders jay and ellie say 600,000 people have hugged cows across the three locations nationwide over their 22 years. >> people are starting to learn that this exists whereas they might not have known before because they are searching for ways to heal. >> this is the new future. >> reporter: the sanctuary in high demand during the pandemic. visitors finding a safe way to connect when they need it most. >> when we hear stories about people who wouldn't leave their homes, about people who are just lonely and locked away in isolation, they got out and they were able to come here.

>> reporter: kim lane's first visit to the gentle barn was more than a decade ago. >> and i was blown away. i hugged a cow and, you know, i was just, like, oh my gosh. this place is amazing. >> reporter: lane, now a volunteer was hooked. >> they're so big, but they're so gentle and so calming and so loving and you don't want to go back out into the world. it's like i can find that peaceful place because they've shown it to me. >> reporter: experts say connecting with animals can improve mental health. >> if someone is dealing with stress or anxiety or depression, they're really in their own head. so by cuddling or hugging an animal, this allows them to think about another being, someone or something other than themselves. >> reporter: and not only do cows help visitors at the gentle barn, the hugs also help the cows. >> talking about everybody, every person has a story, but these animals have a story as well. >> they've hurt. they have been through trauma. they found their own recovery here at the gentle barn and now they want to pay it forward to help others recover.

>> reporter: and after hearing how many people have benefitted from being up close and personal with a cow, i decided to give it somewhat of a try. i was born and raised in texas. this is the closest i've ever been to a cow, i'm telling you. >> so just come in here and kind of like that. >> it's actually not that bad. >> reporter: marcus moore, abc news, santa clarita, california. >> marcus and the cows. >> some experimental journalism, but it seems to help people. it's nice. >> we make a lot of jokes about hugging a cow, but honestly any light that we can shine on the mental health and getting the help that you need is all good. >> down and dirty, matt barrie. >> reeve, you missed your opportunity. >> that's all right. now i know where to go. >> get that hug. we'll be right back with "pop news." the debut of one of our friends, one of our favorite people here at abc, will ganss will be leading the way in "pop news." leading the way in "pop news." at abc, will ganss will be leading the way in "pop news."

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♪ welcome back to "gma" on this day after christmas. we are joined by one of our greatest friends. we are such a fan of our "pop news" host this morning. the one, the only, will ganss. you are the man and you are the man of the hour. how are you doing? >> we need confetti. >> i'm ready for the confetti cannons right now. let's do it. no, i'm just kidding. this is a dream come true, you guys. thank you so much for having me this morning. >> fire it up, man. let's do it. let's begin with a jolly good holiday indeed for fans of "bridgerton." the hit netflix show keeping its season two premiere date under wraps until now. the news finally shared in a

clip, as the cast reads aloud a newsletter from the infamous lady whistledown. >> "bridgerton" returns -- >> march 25th. >> march 25th. >> all: march 25th. >> all right. well, season two may not feature heartthrob reggae jean-page, but the story line is expected to center on anthony played by jonathan bailey who of course has his own sizzling love life. will reeve, i know you have been counting down the days to find out who anthony will hook up with in season two. >> yeah. no idea what you are talking about, but you seem excited which makes me happy. so i'm ready to go. >> this is exciting news. >> we're thrilled. >> great show. >> it is a great show. one of netflix's top ten, you guys. next to some more exciting news, especially for me. taylor swift's latest collab with peloton. the fitness brand finally adding

the singer's music to their classes for cycling. the songs will come from "red: taylor's version," the re-recorded version of her 2012 album. peloton has been running its classes for several years. other participants include queen bey, justin bieber and miley cyrus. >> the tears on those hill climbs. ten minutes long. i can't wait to see it. >> all too long. >> at that point you have to shake it off. >> there it is. great news for swifties like me, and less exciting for my neighbors who are going to hear me screaming on my peloton. next, singing phenom olivia rodrigo is giving her fans a look at her past, and the singer posted a christmas song on social media written when she was only 5 years old, you guys. ♪ ♪ >> will, this is incredible. you know what? i have to say, will. we've worked on overnights. the first time i anchored "gma"

together, we had a grateful cry afterwards and i think we might do it you were fantastic. >> bring out the kleenex. >> thank you for being here. thank you for joining our weekend family. thank for watching abc. we're always on goodmorningamerica.com. stick around this morning for "this week." so much coming up, and enjoy the day afr have a good one. >> building a better bay area. moving forward, finding solutions. this is abc 7 news. julian: good sunday morning. rain wasn't the only thing soaking a street in san francisco. a water main break flooded part of kenwood way. you can see the water rushing down the staircase. this is between 19th avenue and i-280.

initial reports were that the water flooded some homes. the water department responded yesterday afternoon. some light snowfall developing late christmas evening. it happened above the demonstration state forest and also on mount hamilton. highway 130 to the observatory is closed due to rain -- due to dangerous road conditions. it is expected to reopen tuesday if conditions improve. widespread snowfall is expected at high elevations throughout the state this week. we check back in with lisa argen for a look at your forecast. lisa: good morning. we do have scattered showers also sunshine out there -- but also some sunshine out there. we will transfer into less rain. 39 in mountain view, 48 at half moon bay. a little bit of sun, mostly cloudy and mid 30's send -- santa rosa. colder air has been filtering

in. you have felt it for sure, but even colder air arrives hind our next system that comes in later today, into tomorrow. we've got more throughout the afternoon today, into tonight. that will bring us another half to three quarters of an inch. level 1 system, possibly level two early into monday and then we are looking at those snowy peaks in the valleys. julian: this week with george

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>> announcer: "this week" with george stephanopoulos starts right now. rampant spread. >> it has a doubling time of about two days. >> omicron quickly becomes the dominant covid variant in the u.s. as testing demand skyrockets over the holiday weekend. >> we should all be concerned about omicron, but not panicked. >> president biden announces his plan to combat the surge, but should we have been better prepared? dr. anthony fauci is here with the very latest. roadblock. >> i cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. >> did senator manchin break his commitment to you? >> senator manchin and i are going to get something done. >> senator manchin derails biden's social policy bill. what does the setback mean for