elaine cobbe, cbs news, paris. >> diaz: in this country, covid is on the rise again. nearly half of states are reporting increasing infections, largely driven by the omicron subvariant ba.2. more than 80 million americans have been infected since the pandemic's start. the u.s. death toll, almost one million lives lost. for more, we're joined by cbs news medical contributor dr. david agus in los angeles. dr. agus, some are referring to this case rise as america's first "so what" covid wave. how much of a threat is this variant? and is the country prepared? >> reporter: it's a threat, but the good is we're learning to live with it rather than hide from it. with the combination of vaccines and immunity from prior exposure, very few people are being hospitalized. so there are people still at risk, and those people, if any symptoms are exposed, need to be test because we do have paxlovid, which is a treatment that can prevent hospitalization. but i think we're doing well so far in terms of living with this virus. >> diaz: should people consider getting another booster shot

. >> reporter: i'm elaine cobbe in paris with why this vote matters far beyond france's borders. >> diaz: "weekend journal:" what's poisoning america's national bird? and later, this category-- trebek treasures. fans line up for a one-of-a-kind estate sale. >> he's like a national treasure. ( laughs ) easure. >> this is the "cbs weekend news" from chicago with adriana diaz. >> diaz: good evening. today, ukraine's president said that the u.s. secretary of state, antony blinken, and the defense secretary, lloyd austin, would visit the country's embattled capital, kyiv, tomorrow, orthodox easter sunday. so far, there's no comment or confirmation from the state department or the pentagon. volodymyr zelenskyy spoke at a defiant news conference, where he said the visit was not "a big secret." also today, russian forces launched deadly missile strikes on odessa, hitting a residential neighborhood. the russians also took aim at targets in the besieged city of mariupol. cbs' charlie d'agata has the latest tonight from vinnytsia. >> reporter: good evening. normally tonight, people in ukraine would

and cbs's elaine cobb is in paris. you know, elaine, these candidates faced each other five years ago, when you think about this election what stands out as different this time? >> five years ago mar-- marine le pen's strong showing was a surprise, it had not been expected. this time she said i have a real chance, i can be presidentment and her campaign has been pushing very much right to that end. she has softened her image. she dropped all the extremist rhetoric, not speaking about immigration, islam or national identity. and president macron has been busy with diplomacy in ukraine so he came into the campaign very late which helped her, again. >> duncan: and when you think about her softening that language as you just mentioned, is that intentional, do you think, that is meant to help her win or does she still feel very strongly about her view points from five years ago? >> if is very much an image thing. when the invasion of ukraine happened she condemned it but she still says putin is a good ally for france. and sh

cbs news elaine cobb is in paris. could you give us a sense of what happened? >> reporter: there were sighs of relief across france and beyond as it became clear that president macron had beaten his far-right rival. the outcome was less certain earlier in the day as low turnout raised fears that le pen could do well. macron promised the next five years won't be a continuation, but a new beginning. but his celebration will be short lived. this election showed how deeply divided france is today. macron will have his work cut out for him trying to reunite the french. he knows many of those who voted for him did so to block lepen, but the far right and the far left did well, and will work hard in june. even as the two candidates celebrated tonight, he, his victory, she her strong showing, there were protests in several parts of france against both of them, a reminder that for young french people in particular, neither will be given an easy ride in june. jericka. paris.can: elaine cobb for us in today the nigerian president says his nation is in shock and trauma aft

cbs's elaine cobb is in paris. could you give us a sense of what happened? >> reporter: there were sighs of relief across france and beyond as it became clear that president macron had beaten his far right rival. the outcome was less certain earlier in the day as low turnout raised fears that le pen could do well. at his victory party macron promised the next five years won't be a continuation but a new beginning. but his celebration will be short lived. this election showed how deeply divided france is today. macron will have his work cut out for him trying to reunite the french. he knows that many of those who voted for him did so to block le pen but both the far right and far left did well in this election and they will work hard to take seats in parliamentary elections in june. even as the two candidates celebrated tonight, he, his victory, she, her strong showing, there were protests in several parts of france against both of them, a reminder that for young french people in particular, neither will be given an easy ride in june. jericka? >> elaine cobb

and elaine cobb is in paris. these candidates faced each other five years ago. when you think about this election, what stands out as different this time? >> reporter: five years ago, marie le pen's strong showing was a surprise, and had not been expected. this time, she said i have a real chance, i can be president. and her campaign has been pushing very much right to that end. she has softened her image. she dropped her extremist rhetoric, not speaking about immigration, islam, or national identity. and president macron has been busy with diplomacy in ukraine. so he came into the campaign very late, which helped her again. >> when you think about her softening that language, as you just mentioned, is that intentional, that's meant to help her win? does she still feel very strongly about her viewpoints from five years ago? >> reporter: it's very much an image thing. when the invasion of ukraine happened, she condemned it but still says putin is a good ally for france and is going ahead with her views and program from before. >> all right, elaine cobb, thank you

. >> reporter: i'm elaine cobbe in paris, where president emmanuel macron is in the fight of his politicale. >> diaz: