captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for saturday, december 18: the omicron coronavirus variant spreads at high speed, and shutdowns resume. why it's hard to find rapid tests for covid in the u.s. ♪ ♪ ♪ and, the music business takes steps to tackle climate change and go green. next, on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: sue and edgar wachenheim iii. bernard and denise schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the anderson family fund. the estate of worthington mayo-smith. leonard and norma klorfine.

the rosalind p. walter foundation. koo and patricia yuen, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. barbara hope zuckerberg. we try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. mutual of america financial group: retirement services and investments. >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's goal has been to provide wireless service that helps people cmunicate and connect. we offer a variety of no-contract plans, and our u.s.-based customer service team can find one that fits you. to learn more, visit www.consumercellular.tv. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

>> sreenivasan: good evening and thank you for joining us. the world health organization reported today that cases of the omicron variant are doubling every 1.5 to three days in places with community spread. omicron has now been detected in 89 countries, and the highly- contagious strain is expected to replace delta as the dominant variant in many nations. here in the u.s., confirmed cases of covid-19 are up more than 25% on average over the last two weeks, according to the centers for disease control and prevention. in europe, increasing covid cases are leading several countries to reimpose restrictions, ahead of the christmas holiday. in london, where omicron is already the dominant variant, mayor sadik khan encouraged residents to get a vaccine booster. >> over the last 24 hours, we've had the largest number of new cases since this pandemic began, more than 26,000. hospital admissions are going up, but also, staff absences are going up by massive levels. >> sreenivasan: in new york, which was an early epicenter of

the pandemic, the state recorded an all-time record for daily confirmed cases yesterday. the surge has led to several live event cancellations, including the christmas spectacular with the rockettes, now shut down for the rest of the season. as researchers continue to determine how effective existing vaccines and boosters are at combating omicron, a federal appeals court reinstated the biden administration's vaccine mandate on large employers. in a split decision released last night, an appeals court in cincinnati overturned an earlier decision by another federal appeals court that blocked the rule nationwide. the occupational health and safety administration regulation requires workers at companies with 100 or more employees to be vaccinated or tested weekly, starting early next year. several opponents have already said they will appeal to the supreme court. across the u.s., the spiking case numbers are causing a surge in demand for testing, with long lines and long waits in many places.

>> everyone's just been waiting and waiting. and it's been really scary with the new variant. >> sreenivasan: with the demand for covid tests growing and holiday plans on hold for some, lines are long for covid testing in many parts of the country. and when it comes to rapid tests, the kind you can buy in a drugstore, the u.s. is lagging far behind many countries in both availability and distribution. i spoke with propublica reporter lydia depillis about the biden administration's latest moves to increase supplies, and about her recent article titled "here's why rapid covid tests are so expensive and hard to find." lydia, for the past several months, we have, as a nation, been focused on vaccinations. but here we are staring down another variant, omicron, and people are realizing once again the value of testing. so, 20 months into a pandemic, why don't we have more rapid tests that we can take home and try to beat this? >> that's right. it's been a consistent problem

with the response to the coronavirus. and you'll remember, hari, this started way back in february 2020, when the c.d.c. tried to put out a test and bungled it. and then, the f.d.a. welcomed thousands of applications for new tests but didn't authorize many of the rapid ones, especially initially. and so, come 2021, only a handful were actually allowed to be sold, which didn't seem to be as much of a problem earlier in the summer when we thought that vaccinations would fix this. and it turned out, we didn't take enough of them. and so, here we are, new variants after new variants creating these surges in demand for testing which, honestly, you can't just flex up and down that easily. you really need to have a consistent supply. >> sreenivasan: we saw a lot of approvals by the f.d.a. for the p.c.r. tests, the ones that are done in a lab, but those can take about 24 hours. why didn't we see nearly as many approvals for take-home tests?

>> yeah, so, i think that we have to consider what purpose the f.d.a. usually serves, which is to authorize medical devices to make sure that they're safe and will do what they say they will do. and so, p.c.r. tests fit that bill for them, right? they give you exactly the right answer, in terms of whether or not you have virus in your system. but when it comes to reducing spread in a population, you really need to have more tests than that. you really need for people to be testing frequently. and if you could magically take a p.c.r. test at home and have a result in 15 minutes, they would be great. but that's just usually not ho they work. and so, the f.d.a. was focused on this one metric of accuracy and was pretty resistant to arguments about how sensitive overall antigen tests can be if they're used properly, which is to say every few days, if necessary, if they're exposed consistently.

>> sreenivasan: the biden administration has said they want to try to jumpstart this and add a few billion dollars to increasing testing availability. how likely and how quickly are we going to see the effect of that? >> that's right. so, towards the end of the summer, as delta was cresting, the ministration did realize that rapid tests were a key need, they would fill key niche. they put $3 billion in purchasing them and ramping up the supply cin. they authorized several new high-throughput rapid test technologies. and then, just a couple of weeks ago, they said, as part of their winter testing strategy, that, oh, well, we'll make sure that these are covered by private insurers. and that was met with widespread skepticism because, "a," nobody likes dealing with their insurer, and who's going to fill out the forms to get reimbursed? and "b," it's just totally unclear how they're going to define exactly how that works, how many tests you get, which ones are authorized. so, it's the kind of thing where they have still not fully

committed to the type of availability that the government did with vaccines where every american is entitled to as many vaccine doses as they need. >> sreenivasan: there was a somewhat viral clip of jen psaki at a white house briefing recently where she rhetorically asked, should we be giving everyone at home a covid test? and, well, there are a lot of countries are doing close to that. >> yeah. and that was-- i think that jen psaki would restate that, if she had the chance. but what she was saying is, we could waste tests by sending them to people who won't use them. but that actually isn't how it works in places like the united kingdom, where they are sent by request. so, if you're going to use one, you have a need for one, you go get one. and the other thing it sort of neglects is that we don't necessarily need to flood the zone with rapid tests. the thing is that they're useful in sometimes very coordinated community contexts where you say, "okay, housing development full of poor people, like, we're going to make sure that these

are freely available. you come and take them twice a week, and you get a p.c.r. test if you get a positive because th're not perfect." so, that's the kind of opportunity that seems like it still being missed in this pandemic, and it requires a little bit of education of the american public. but, look, we've all learned a lot. it's the kind of thing that i feel like, really, we could probably figure out how to do responsibly. >> sreenivasan: dia depillis of propublica, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. >> sreenivasan: early this morning, after monthof delay, a senate standoff over president biden's choices for dozens of ambassadors and several judges came to a close. the senate voted to confirm 41 ambassadors and nine federal judges. the early morning vote was allowed to proceed, after months of blockade by republican texas senator ted cruz, who only agreed to let the nominees move forward after a reported deal withenate majority leader chuck schumer. as part of the deal, the senate will vote on legislation next month championed by cruz to sanction russia, related to a

natural gas pipeline from russia to germany. a super typhoon left morthan 30 people dead in the philippines last night. philippine authorities and rescue workers continued to survey the damage today, and the philippine coast guard rescued people trapped on rooftops and trees. the powerful storm-- equivalent to a category five hurricane-- departed the island nation's southeastern province last night, after knocking down power lines with sustained winds of 121 miles per hour. and, if you find yourself longing for a return to normalcy, you may look to gavle, sweden. after five years without a spark, the town's annual straw yule goats were-- despite best efforts by police and security-- once again turned into a christmas pyre. yesterday, there was a scramble, and authorities arrested a man in his 40s. it is part of a long-running, unsanctied tradition, of locals illegally torching the town's 42-foot-high yule goat, and a smaller sibling go. since 1966, the yuletide symbol has be stolen, struck by a

car, torn apart by revelers, but most often, burnt to the ground. the last goat inferno was during the 2016 christmas holiday, and the goat enjoyed the next ur years without an ember. >> sreenivasan: for more national and international news, visit www.pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: the tornadoes that swept through the mid-south region one week ago left thousands homeless and killed at least 77 people in kentucky alone. it was the single worst tornado disaster in that state's history. this weekend, charities, churches and government agencies are focused on helping those who need shelter and supplies. for an update, i spoke with liam niemeyer, assisnt news director at public radio station wkms. liam, it's been a week since we spoke, and i know you've been reporting the entire time about this crisis. tell me what you've seen in the last week in terms of

relief efforts and trying to make people whole. >> a lot of that has been through grassroots efforts by the churches, but, increasingly, there has been national organizations that have been coming in and helping out. but also increasingly, we're also starting to see a federal presence, too. the other day, there was a-- a couple of mobile registration sites that fema had set up for people to start applying for fema aid, you know, and various information distributed on how to qualify, how to apply, things of that nature. because, just in the fact that fema hasn't been to this region, there hasn't been a major disaster in this region in quite some time, so the process is new for everyone. and so, there's still a large cleanup process going on, which, of course, president joe biden said that the federal government would cover the next 30 days of cleanup cost, presumably through

fema. >> sreenivasan: when we see photographs that you've taken, we see gymnasiums that have turned into just a giant bedroom for people. what is that scene like? how many people are in these places, in these temporary shelters now? >> it's-- we're talking about dozens of people. the kentucky state parks, which are also offering lodging, and, you know, state resort parks which would normally serve as vacation spots for kentuckians, have been turned into emergency lodging. and hundreds of people, as of right now, are in these state lodges not only in western kentucky, but in other parts of the state. and, you know, and also school facilities, both with the mayfield school district and the county school district, graves county, have turned into these resource hubs. they've turned into places where people can get hot meals and showers.

and, you know, of course, school districts in small towns have always been central the community, andven more so. you know, a lot of the reporting i've done has been with these school officials who know their community and know their community well, and know what the needs of their community are, especially during a crisis like this. so, you know, scol facilities, physical buildings and schools and school staff have become paramount during this time. >> sreenivasan: you even profiled a coach who basically went out and looked for his players. >> he basically-- i rode along with him for most of the day earlier this week, and he deals with students who are having trouble in the classroom or having behavioral issues or just need some more support outside of the classroom. and he works with about 50 or 60 students, builds relationships with these students out in the community. and as we're driving along, the first thing that comes to mind for him when he sees these destroyed homes are, you know,

the students where he knows that lives in these destroyed neighborhoods, lives in these homes. the students who needed help before the storm and are going to need even more help now. >> sreenivasan: some of these people are going to need not just short-term housing, but medium- to long-term if there is nothing left of their homes. >> you know, you mentioned the coach. one of the things that was on his mind was just from the fact that mayfield is a diverse community. it's also an impoverished community, you know, with a poverty rate three times the national average. and a lot of these people, you know, were renting their homes. many may not have renter's insurance. and so, they may not have much to go back to. and in terms of where are they going to be living? you know, i presume that fema's going to play a large role in trying to connect people with housing. but in far western kentucky, there wasn't much of affordable housing to begin with. you know, this is a pretty rural

region where there wasn't a lot of construction in terms of residential housing, especially affordable housing, to begin with. and there's just a dearth. and now-- and there's even more so now after this catastrophic tornado. >> sreenivasan: liam niemeyer of wkms public radio, joining us from kentucky. thanks so much. >> thank you, hari. >> sreenivasan: musicians often take stands on political and social issues. now, climate change isne they are not only talking about, but also taking action to address. despite the industry's use of gas-guzzling tour buses and concert concession stands loaded with single-use plastic water bottles, there's a movement to make lasting changes. reverb, a non-profit founded in 2004, is on a mission to turn the music industry green. special correspondent tom casciato has the story as

part of our ongoing series, "peril and promise: the challenge of climate change." ♪ ♪ ♪ >> reporter: the grammy- nominated band my morning jacket is known for southern-tinged, moody rock, but, at this gig at new york's forest hills stadium, on frontman jim james' mind? climate change. >> i think people are waking up and starting to do more and more stuff, but definitely not at the speed that we need to. that's why we're trying to take more of a stance, partner with people like reverb, to try and get at least the people that are coming to our shows to, like, learn more and think more about it so that we can speed up the process of trying to deal with it. >> there's a one-to-one ratio from recycling and trash. >> reporter: reverb is the brainchild of adam gardner and his wife, lauren sullivan. >> we met at tufts university. i was a freshman. he was a sophomore. i saw him singing in his acapella group at my dorm orientation. i thought, gee, that guy's cute. >> reporter: did you immediately think, "someday, i will start

an environmental organization with this man?" >> no. by nmeans, no. no. >> repter: there was other stuff first. a master's degree for sullivan in environmental education. co-founding the rock band guster for gardner. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> we were touring heavily with my band, guster. and so, as i was falling in love with her, through osmosis, i was giving the environmental lens put-- you know, put in front of my eyes and started looking at the touring world. >> reporter: one look at the debris following an outdoor rock concert showed gardner the touring world wasn't exactly what you'd call sustainable. >> just looking at all the plastic on the ground, our tour buses with the generators never shutting off, d, you know, knowing that they don't get very good mileage. all the concessions, everything was just being thrown out and going right to landfill. and at the time, we-- we just shrugged our shoulders at each oer, going, it's just too bad it has to be this way. >> reporter: there've always been these two sides of rock and roll. there's trashing the hotel room

and throwing the tv into the swimming pool, and the other side was, like, musicians for safe energy. >> the origin story of reverb is actually very much connected to that legacy. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> reporter: musicians united for safe energy staged the famed 1979 "no nukes" concerts. the group was formed to oppose nuclear power and promote renewables like solar. one of its founders was singer-songwriter bonnie raitt. ♪ ♪ ♪ she would become an inspiration for reverb. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> aft he and i were talking about my desire, from the environmentalist perspective, to try to talk with folks outside of the environmental bubble, his sister sends us this flier i the mail and says, "bonnie raitt is doing this." >> reporter: raitt's effort, a nonprofit called green highway, was a pioneer of the concept of connecting concert-goers to causes. >> i picked up the phone and called her manager, kathy kane. her manager actually comes from an activist background with greenpeace, as well, and said, "yeah, i'll lend you all of the gear. you can take it out. we'll mentor you. we've got a non-profit."

and i quit my job, and we took all of that mentorship and gear from bonnie raitt's green highway and brought it outn the road, and it's evolved into reverb. >> reporter: the early days were spent on tour with acts including alanis morissette and john mayer, maroon 5 and the daveatthews band, with reverb customizing tents and booths for the audience based on the interests of each act and its fan base. for the bands themselves, reverb would provide access to bio-diesel for ur buses, along with backstage recycling and composting. on this day, gardner is showing me around at forest hills. >> so, we've been working with forest hill stadium for a number of years to make it more sustainable. so, we've had, for example, these solar-powered phone- charging stations. >> reporter: how do you convince, like, a big, famous venue like this to take part in what you're doing? they've got so much else to worry about, so much else going on. >> they're understanding now more than ever that this is what artists want. this is what fans want. they're starting to-- to get that there's a responsibility here for the venue, to-- that--

to meet the demand of their audiences and of their clients, the artists. >> reporter: one of reverb's specialties is asking fans to donate for refillable water bottles, then let them fill up at free water stations, instead of buying hordes of single-use ttles that might go from the show directly to the dump. reverb says it has eliminated some four million single-use plastic bottles since 2004. and, through efforts at more than 350 tours, it calculates it has eliminated over 180,000 tons of carbon, the equivalent of taking about 39,000 cars off the road for a year. ♪ ♪ ♪ one of the acts participating with reverb is grammy award-winner brittany howard. ♪ so, don't question my state of mind ♪ i'm doing wonderful just fine, thank you ♪ >> reporter: you have a following, which means you have a voice. why do you choose climate change as sometng for which to use that voice? >> you know, i think it just comes from me growing up outside.

>> reporter: howard's an avid outdoorswoman who grew up in alabama, lives in tennessee, and loves to fish. >> look at this one, guys! >> reporter: she hopes working with reverb will help increase the level of concern about climate change. >> i think a lot of people don't take it seriously enough because we've spent generations and generations on this earth, and everyone's always been able to handle the heat, you know. we're down in the southeast, but we've got tv and internet and everything like that. like, we're watching what's happening to the world. >> reporter: has climate change found its way into your writing? >> that's a good question. i guess it's something i consider when i think about the state of the world today. >> reporter: i'm wondering how you would approach it as a writer. if you write something too on-the-nose-- "climate change is bad, climate change is bad"-- nobody wants to hear that. >> i don't know, i'd like it. ( laughter ) if the-- if the beat's funky, if the music's good. i don't think it needs to be that blatant for everybody to understand that there's nowhere to go. i think that kind of dawns on

you. like, it's hot everywhere. >> reporter: do you worry at all about your fan base, that there are people who are climate change deniers that would say, "what's the jacket doing, talking about climate change?" >> no. i mean, if anybody is a climate change denier, i don't-- i mean, i just can't-- i can't get down with that because it's just not true. we all need to face the fact that climate change is real and that we need to deal with it before it's too late. >> reporter: the list of names in the reverb fold is impressive, including billie eilish, p!nk, harry styles, and dozens of others. still, the forest hills promoter, mike luba, notes that many sectors of the business have not gotten on board yet. you have to fight in the music industry to make your point and to get what you want done, vis-a-vis climate change? >> yes. and the music industry has to actually spend money to take the steps to fix this legacy of giant buses, private planes. and the music business has the opportunity to lead, and it really hasn't. and that's the bummer. and i think it's just come down to, people have to put their money where their mouth

is, and that's what reverb is trying to do. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> reporter: this past summer, adam gardner and guster played what the band called the first carbon-positive show ever held at colorado's famed red rocks amphitheater. ♪ ♪ ♪ along with the usual efforts, a portion of the ticket price supported a denver non-profit caring for recently planted trees, and a project in colorado sequestering carbon. ♪ ♪ ♪ it does remain to beeen whether the whole music industry can ever be made sustainable, given all the travel, the difficult routing, and of course the flights many bands take. >> there is some kind of systemic, logistical piece that needs to happen there on the sustainability front. and i don't know if we have the answer to that quite yet, but we can do complicated things, right? so, i think that-- i think that's one of those things that, over time, we will need to, as an industry, figure that out.

>> sreenivasan: that's all for this edition of pbs newshour weekend. for the latest news updates, visit www.pbs.org/newshour. i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching. stay healthy, and have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: sue and edgar wachenheim iii. bernard and denise schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the anderson family fund. the estate of worthington mayo-smith. leonard and norma klorfine. the rosalind p. walter foundation. koo and patricia yuen, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. barbara hope zuckerberg.

we try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. mutual of america financial group: retirement services and investments. additional support has been provided by: consumer cellular. and by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. you're watching pbs.

♪ ♪ what's it all about ♪ ♪ alfie? ♪ for over half a century, burt bacharach has enriched the soundtrack of our lives, creating some of the most beautiful music ever. i'm robert wagner, and i'd like to invite you to enjoy a wonderfully melodic journey with my music. it's "burt bacharach's best." ladies and gentlemen, mr. burt bacharach. ♪ what the world needs now ♪ ♪ is love sweet love ♪ wagner: his big break was arranging and conducting for the legendary movie star marlene dietrich. and burt soon established himself as a contemporary suessor to the tin pan alley songsmiths.