announcer: building a better bay area.forward,ng this isbc 7 ws. >> good afternoon, everybody, i'm liz kreutz in for kristen sze. you're getting answers for you in real time. so today year going to be looking at the travel nightmare unfolding across the country right now, thousands of flights have been cancelled or delayed due to the spread of covid, so many travelers have even had to rethink their plans because of it. we're going to talk to a travel industry analyst about what people should do if they're in this situation and how to avoid the travel headache in the future. first with 2022 around the corner, health experts are weighing in on what they see for the future of the pandemic. the chair of the department of

medicine, recently spoke about masking, booster shots and demand for covid tests. he is feeling optimistic dpieste eth rapid spread of the ocrmion varit.an we have a lot to cover today,e w are tinhe midst of a very bhizy timeig rht now, a lot ofeo pple travelg,in gatheri wngith famyil andri fends as we mentiod.ne who critica ils this wkee in terms of understandingha wt is xtne for the pandemic? well, it's already been itcralic becausep u until last week, we really didn't haveoo gd tan otheev serity of omicron. we knew thatt iwas far more trsmanissible anth the prior riants a wndene kthw at it adeved themm iune sysmte to some exte.nt we have a lot of good nsew of verity. it doesee sm to beig snificantly less sereve. inhe tay b area,ne o of eth most ccinatedeg rion in eth united states a,t lstea so far, a ton nofew cases that thatum nber is goingp u very fast.

we're notee sing aug he increase in hoitspalizatio,ns wree' gibennintog see the earliest sisgn that we're going to see increased hospalitatizions, but doi n't inthk we're going to see ovwherelming nbeumrs the way we might have if we saw the same mbnuer of cases from delta. liz:ha tt is very gdoo news, i was going to ask you wt hayou do edprict for the comg indays and weeks, i have fridsen in new york whore a sndouing the alarm, one in 60 ppleoe in mhaanttan stteed positeiv for ocrmion or least positive for a varntia stla ekwe. is that wtha we shodul expect he iren the bay ar,ea in n ew yo, rkwe can expect it rehe? >> wree' going to see a ton of cas.se if you'r leike me, you're geinttg calls from fenrids and relatives more than you erve ve orvehe t past two years, i goitt , i wasxp eosed t i in va lot of secas, but the -- and that's d,ba obvusiolye wwould

prefero t see fewer cases,ho tse cases, fir ostf all,om se people get fair slykic and can traminst the virusnd a a small percenteag will get long covid,et bter to have fewer cases, we have a lot of th.em the iuess is h mowany of them ll lead to severe cas,se lead tohospitalatizions, c.i.u. stsay and deat.hs ea lst so far in eth bay area, not so much, in other partsf o the cotruny, more than we're going se heere becseau it does seem leik the main thing that otprects peoepl is the level of imnimuty theyha ve. hweave a ton of people in the y baarea who have gteotnwo t shots, a preytt good nbeumr who ha gveotten teehr so it'snd a 's loongki so far that with omicro yn,ou'r geoingo t see a lo otf cases and a lotf o ileslns, if you had two and paicrtularly i yfou have had three shs,ot a highev lelf o protecti tono prevent you from edneing too g to eth hospital and getting very sick and dyg.in liz: right now, a lot of people has they're meeting wit fhamily an fdriendsre a trygin to weigh the risks of gathering and even r oppele, let'say s you're

llfuy vaccinedat, you have been boteosd,ut b youe'r anld oer rspeon, over 70,ho suld you ill feelom cfortableei bng ableo t gatherit wh people right now just knongwiha tt omicron ses emto be lsesev sere than delta? >> h iave a set of ground resul ey tend to use. th iats that i'm happy to get geth werith a small group of peopleho w k inow he avbeen vaccinat aednd bstooed and are being careful in terms of mask wearingnd a would call it off if ey felt ill, even if they had a snileff or a sorehr toat in the morni tngo clal it off. if that'she t case, i feel comftaorble gtietng togetrhe th thatro gup of peleop. if any of those people are at particullyar high rkis of a bad tcouome and that really would be sobomedyve or 80 or someone who was immunosuppressed for whatever reason, i think it's absolutely reasonable if you can fi tndhem for everyon teo get a rad pitest an hrou orwo t before that get togeth.er ifve erybody ttses negative on a pirad test, i think then the get

togeth ierser pfectly safe. i d'ton do rapid ttses for all getot gethers. ou y want to veha thatxt era marginf o safety, if peoplees tt negativen o one of eth ridap testas ew f hours before the coenunter, youan c be very mfcoortableha tt's aaf se enuncoter. z: i think i took five atom he pirad tests over the past week stju to be aebl to fatrhe in a small group. thatas w my qutieson. he tn felt comfortleab with my mily, wwee re all boteosd, vaccinat,ed had a rapid test. who accurate are those tests? >> theary e extmerely accurate whenou y knowhe t queiostn you're asking. the question y'roue askin igs is isth person iecnftious now. it's not the same as what a p.c.r. tells you, doesha tt rson have covid. youan c heav covid and you just havetn' reached the pntoi of in effect

your first day wherehe t test might be negivate and you're infectio.us ifhe t queiostn iss iit 1,0%00 certn aiin a have a negative radpi test that i'm not ineffect insuranccoe mpanieshe t answer is no. u yotake allf otheth oer ecprautions,ve eryone is ccvainated and booste yd,ouut p inom se ntveilation,ve eryone fes elfine, iou wld fleeer vy comftaorble thast' a seaf get togeth.er liz: goodo t hear for a lot of ople. it's challennggi to get the tests which kee tlalk about in a nute. wh tato do when you test sitive or coremmendatis,on we leneard that t che.d.c. is changinghe t recmeomndatnsio for arantines. can you speak about the new guidelesin? >> yeah, whathe t c.d.c.id d a half-hr ouago is change their coremmendatison for,t' is actually isolioatn. 'sit reallyha wt we're talngki abt ouwhat someoneho suld do if eyth test posiveti, if they have

covi hd,ow longhe ty need to stayut o of commission. the old recmeomndation was stay out of theor wkplace and d'ton come intoon ctact with anydybo for 10 days. that's a lot to ask. oppele in essential rvseices, a hoitspal, rsnues, doctors, the airlines p,eople who --li fght attendtsan, they're out othf e rkforceor te 10 ysda, tt'has a g de.al what the.d c.c. has said if the person flsee perfelyct fein that sts ayoutor f five dayss i ough. now, t ihink that is prudent at a soctaiel level becseau the vast majoryit of people, if they feel perctfely fine,iv fe days after their positive test, they're no longer infectious. thereil wl be a few people that still have a lingering iecnftion and still are penottially fectious on day x,si so if it we reme, iou wld heav added that eyth shouldt athe very aslet wear a mkas on the few dsay after th,at daysix s through 10. if y wouant to be serup safe. if iter we me, i would do a

rapides tt on day five to make ret' is netigave. a ryve small percenteag of people will have a positive rapid stte and they should not ben i ciulrcation. i would have added masks and a gative ridap test on that last day to b eextra careful. z:li good to hear,eo pple can keep thatn i mind. i did find it intereinstg, thghou, i bieelve that eth d.c.c. did say if you have been booste adndou y're eosxped to covid atth you d'ton need to arantineo s lon ags you wear a sk. yeah, i tnkhi that's all prenudt, and pt arof this is yes, there is some cnchae that u're going to get covid from at exsupore, but to take all of tho pseeopleut o of circulatn,io parcutilarly if you' vreaccinated and boteosd, the chances y'roue going to heav a bad case of covid that lands in theos hpital isow n getting very, ve,ry very w.lo 'sit not zero, but ve,ry vyer loifw you're 80ea yrs old, ybe it's higher than that. so what therey' doing is thinngki across society as we

arlen about omioncr that it is mierld in people whoav he been vaccinedat and boosted, we got be tughohtful ofha wt the lerus are. there are alre costs of pulli ng peleoput o ofoc siety ande w start talking abouthe t soochls again. esthe are sensibl reules giving that wree' learnin tghat ocrmion in vacnacited and booedst peoepl less severe. z:li we' greoing to continue chatur ding theom cmercialre bak and talk autbo the frtouh booste ar, rise in

z:li welcome ckba. and, ctdoor, ian wted to ask you wnobo aut we'reea lrning autbo a risingum nber of childnre who

are hostapilized whit cidov ghrit now wchhi is obviolyus ryve concnierng. wh dato we owknbo aut why this is happening and the ages of thees ilchdren? >>yeah, i think what we' re sengei is, first oalf l, it's ill ve,ry veryma sll numbs.er the vast majoryit of kids who gecot vid will do nefi, wlil not get vyer sick, will not need to n ithe hospital. thaloughe' wre seegin rinisg case asndha tst' conceinrtg that e raw numbers is very, very all. an my cmuomnities and particarully in a place like the baary ea thats i so higyhl vainccated, the ltlite kids, in many acples, the own one sstill tva ccinated. becaeus ocrmion is more contagio tushan prior variants, if they're exposed to it, there is aha cnce thelly' get infected. i do wryor about the ltlite kid. people say if omioncr is much milder, t leherip r and erevybod iys getting inctfeed. you still have little kids who

are not vaccinated, those that ear iunmmocompromedis and the ccines dn'idt take very well. the unvacnacitedeo pple have made a psoerlna choice,ut b the lilettid ks vehan't, the muimnocomprosemid people haven't, a good reason to stay sa afend some people who get it enev if therey' vaccinadte and wi gllet very si,cklt ahough you ar qeuite protected ifou y have gotten boosted. z:li with ksid returning to hool in a few weeks after winter break, they have enbe thwi their family, avtreling, socializing,ow h concerning is atth for you as we seehe t rise inhospitalizations? >>on ccerning,e wear not seeing ch of a rise in hospitalatizions m,ore of a rise cases. so it means there is a lot of covid arndou. erthe is a lot of omicron around. it'ser vy tranissmsible. we are going to s meeore outbresak in the hoscols.

if we learned athnying in 2020, got to dove erything humanly sspoible to keephe t soochls enop. so i think wree' going toav he sort of reayll tnkhi carefully ouabt how do we make the schools as safe as possib,leha wt is the mimunim amount of isolation and arantineha tt makes sense when a kid does get infect.ed i inthk the iade of taking a olwhe classnd a canliceng it becausone e kid is infect,ed doesn't kema sense ymanore. that's a goodse u of ridap test, someone is eosxped and tesngti negativeyo, u don't need to quanartine them. odgo evidence they c bane back in class and everyone ndsee to mask and be careful. causthe e rapid tests are so go,od weee ndcc aess to them to ma skeure we can kpee ala css gog inifhe tre is oneid k who gets vicod. liz: let's talk about booster s now andhi tsal tkha tt fiofcially trehe is a need f aor fourth osboter,ow h likyel do uyo tnkhi that will be? i>>t's up in eth air. raisel lastee wk annouednc that

they weer going to a secdon booster or a frtouh shot because of early evideenc that your immunity aerft your booster lasts is incredibly high for rethe months and begins to wean yet agn.ai theyan ccelled that plan today. mi' not seur where they're esbltaishing o int now. the immunyit is winang butut b t big ckti in hospitalizioatns. is carle that your immunity is bineg to wane three or four mont ahsfter your fstir osboter. we don't see a signicafint seri inos hpitalizaontis and oppele with that sinegl bstooer stillre aer vyaf se in terms of prevenngti severe illns,es we ha ave judengmt call to make, do we bstoo people to prevent fectionsr o are you protected against vesere cas,se you don't need a booster. we shodul hold tight and not ke a second booster.

therise a littl beit of a risk thate wan c ovboerost. itur tns out your immeun system with too muc vhaccine binegs to go to sleep a ltlite bit. erthe is somethingal cled immunity maturatnio that your mune system needs a little bit of time, so there a erenough questis onup in the air. because omicron appea trso be milder. if you had two shots and yrou booster, w iould hold tit.gh i wldou not get a frtouh shot yet. liz: so you talk about tentially overboosti,ng but we al sohave, the flu stho and some peleop that said maybe ortveime getting coa vid shotil wl be like a flu shot, so how does that differ? >> that w'ton surprise me at all thatf i it turns outha tt every arye we need to get a bstooer becaeus iunmmity has waned and their vus hasha spe shifted so the oldho sts d'ton work as wlel ymore. it's a seasonir vus to worry about ridung the winter. second of al al, new flu saitrn

comes out. the booster is rejigered for that rastin. it w'ton surpreis me at all if weet g a booster for a covid, e sa metime, th are rorefmulated every yrea aiagnst the variantha tt is at play. the question that wree' really asking n iows does a slight creasen ithe efficacy of your there shots against a systetimac infection,ut b not against a severe feinction, dsoe that merialt l of us gtietng a fouhrt shot next month. the ansrwe rhtig now is let's ldho our hseors and see what happens. liz: whitmi ocron potenaltily being le ssvesere, eecspially for osthe who are vciacnated and boosted,ha tt does that indiceat atth we're coming tohe t end of thisan pdemic? >>ve ery time i have prectdied that, i he avbeen wrong. don't want toar pcutilarly edict that aiagn. there is a happy scenario rehe.

the hpyapce srinao is that omroicn takesve or for delta and it looksik le it's likely to happen. everybyod hasmm iunity to it evenaltuly either touhrgh ccinatio onr ifou y're not vainccated, y'roue almost certaiynl going to get it. it's mild.er and that -- and itls ao stlas, th seurge only lasts twoon mths whh icisha wt sou athfricael tls you. at's the hpyap scarenio. thhae ppy scerinao says by march evyberody hasmm iunity aingast th isthing. if you get i atndou y mhtig get a case every now and then. sinc yeou are vciacnated and veha seen it borefend a have immunityo t it, youav he a mild se. now is not leikhe t flu, not li tkehe lie thatas h been told for two years. it isik le the flu and we'll su ickt up and deal with it. th'sat theap hpy scarenio. evyer happy scerina hoas bnee followedy b a curveball that has chandge the ballga.me m relucntta to say with any sericuty that thast' wheree' wre gogin to end up.

eifryvething notegiationea rlly well, ttha would bune usual for vicod, that' wshere weig mht findur oselves in march or apl.ri z:li i hope so. i'm planning a wedding for june. let's oscrs our fingers thatan c happ.en >> i amor me cfiondent about rch andpr ail than june, but i'm hopi.ng >>on d't tell me that now. ctor, thk anyou so much, we yswa appreciate you being here. >> my pleasure, thanks for having me. liz: coming up next, it's a situation so many people found themselves in this holiday weekend being stranded at the airport, thousands of flights were cancelled because of covid, we're talking live to an expert

liz: welcome back, everyone. frustrations are growing at airports from coast to coast right now. thousands of flight delays and cancellations have stranded travelers returning home from the holiday weekend. airlines say there is an increase in covid cases among pilots and crews. what should people do if their

flight is cancelled and what can you do now to avoid travel adheaches in the furetu. joining us with some iignsht is a trelav anastly henry hardfelt. thksan forei bng here. what aree w seeing natioidnwe in termsf o flightan ccellations and homuw ch areel rated to covid retelad to oerth facts?or henry: we are seeing a lot of fligs htbecause of covid. we don't kwno the pcirese nuermb, though, bauecse notll a airlines choeos to share that. theat lest i sawas wor me than 1,020 flightsan ccelled and many thousand more ladeyed. there s habeenad b weather in certaipln aces such as the pacic finorthweswht ich is contritibung tohe tse prleobms. liz: we often hrea of flight ys in canceatllions becseau of weatr,he that's pttrey norm.al to heav thismo aunt of ncellations cabeuse ofre cws ing sick, it smsee unecpredented. henry: it is.

we're going thrghou a lotf o things for their fst time. stla year w weent touhrgh covid forhe tir fst meti. en we hadhe t delta variant. now we have the omicron varntia whicish ff aecting vaccinated, en boost iedndividua alsnd atth's where airline emploesye are lnvuerable. e large airlin, esunited, southwest, american, dea,lt all have 88% or more of their employees vaccinadte at this meti, yet they, like many of us are gtietng sick withov cid becausthe e omicron variant can go aunrod the vaccines. so the airlisne are being caught by tshi and as a reltsu, tyhe had to cceanl a lot of fliet, sz thsaounds of fghlits starting richstmas eve. liz:o s do youhi tnkir alines were rlleay prepadre for omicron and howt i wldou impac tthe holiday avtrel season? henry: d ion't think that airlines were prepared for omicnro having such extensive impact o tnheir employees a nd

they didn't rlieaze that so many of the firlights weer vulraneble as a result. now,ha wt's unfortutena is some airlinesav he ptnarershipsre a we srceah hospitals and clinics andou y wldou thinkha tt those inics or hospitals would have idsa to their airline stcuomers, hey, you should bere pparedor f this, your employees are vulnerable jus ltike abonydy else. unfortunately, it doesn'tee sm that was the case. li tz:his has really beceom a mess for so many trelavers. whatho suld peoepl do if their flightas w canllceed,s iit easy to get a refund? henry: l'set break it wndo. first, if youav he srttaed your ip, youan wt to getom he and nbeumr one thing regardless of whe yreou arehe wn this happens, be nice to the person u'yore speakgin to o,ver the phe onor the rpaiort,he ty have the wepor to helpou y or t.no d antheye'v beennd uer a lot of stress. if youav he not started your trip and youti sll want to go anthd e airline tells you the

ightas h been cceanlled cabeuse of vicod, you can ask r foa rendfu. stmo airlines, though, will encoagure you ttao ke a travel ucvoher, it's valid f aor year or remo. me airlines mightft oen eeteners, bonusre fquent flier les or a cash refu.nd if you're in the middlef o a iptr and the airnelian ccels your flightn otheay w home,ou y nsk a for aef rund but really at you wtan is to get ho.me llte the airneli you wan tto get to where y'roue going,ee s if ey can get you on their airlin oerth oer airlines. some canut pou y on other carriers if space exists. li wz:hat about booking a bkuacp flhtig, aliirnes are allinowg more lieennt canceatllion licies, do youan rcho camonga booking a second backup flight in case your fstir ts cancleeld? henry:ou y're rit,gh a lot of

rlines have elinamited t he chgean feeshe ty used toav he fore cod.vi if you doan ccel a reservation, yogeu t 100% of thatir afare credited backha tt you can use watords athnoerri tp generally you have autbo 12 monsth to book ethex ntli fght and roughly as much as a yreao ttake it. but do you rlleay want to be a nkba giving aer zo intertes loan to an irline. ifou y book a refundabl etietck, you get all of your meyon back, at's an expensive prosopition. you book a atse, youe'r king it away omfr someone se. do i don't really rancho cucamoa ngdoing atth. z:li tt'has good to know. several crue isshipsav he been tuedrn awayro fm ports due to ck travels.er at are cruisein les indog? henry: many are sinayg you have btoe vaccinated to get on the ship. th'reye dngoi covides tts eitrhe berefo you board or even ha,lf ybmae both. threi crews are vciacnated and

test aednd t,ye again, jtus like with airlesin, omioncr is getting meso peoepl cksi. a cruise line -- z:li let's tkal dinurg z:li let's tkal dinurg commer

liz: thanks for joining us on this interactive show about getting answers. we talked about the c.d.c. recommendations for shorter isolation time for people with covid, the latest on the spread of omicron and what to do if you're caught up in a holiday travel nightmare. we are answering your questions in real time. thanksor f sending usou yr quesontis. "world ns ewtonight"s i next and dan and i wilsel e you at:0 40.

tonight, breaking new ass we come on the air. the cdc today annouinncg a major ift to isolation guidelines as icomron fuel tshe lattes ndpaemic sue.rg the cdc shortengin its recommdeend covid isolation period from tenay ds to vefi. forho tsees tting sipotive, but owh don't have any sytompms. foowlled by five dsay of mask aring whenro aund others. dr. ashish jha bakreing down atwh it all means, as cidov cases yrskocket orve the holiday ekend. ssro the cotruny, people itwaing for hours in lgon teinstg lines. pridesent bide tnoday acknowledginthg e governntme's ndemic rpoesnse is clearly not enghou and yisang, "we have more work to do." vicod hospilitazatis onamong childrenur sging in ptsar ofhe t untry. in newor yk city, a fi-fveold ineacrse, with less than a third