ashish jha.st, let's turn to alexandria half here in washington with a look at new pressures on the white house as omicron spreads. alex. >> might come of the daily covid-19 case in washington, d.c., is not the highest in the nation per capita in the white house has not been spared. close contacts of the president and vice president have tested positive. all americans at large have struggled to find testing. president biden is now expressing regret. if >> president biden: i wish i had thought about ordering half a billion. >> for not ordering 500 million rapid covid-19 test weeks ago. instead the president promised to distribute them to americans free of charge next month. >> we are getting bombarded and showered with tests. to the point where we ran out of test yesterday. >> the holiday testing demand comes during one of the busiest travel times of the year. airlines canceling hundreds of flights this we can due to staffing shortages as covid-19 cases across the country search. the omicron varia

jha on all of this tonight. and what president biden said just a short time ago about the omicron variant, his warning now to americans. >>> this new round of deadly storms. 23 reported tornadoes in four states this time. at least five people killed. and now this system headed to kentucky again. rob marciano standing by to time this out. >>> the sexual assault allegations tonight against chris noth. the hollywood reporting saying two women have now come forward with separate claims of sexual assault. noth responding tonight. peloton pulling its ad with the actor. >>> the major development involving those american and canadian hostages in haiti. the remaining 12 hostages released. >>> in new york city, the apartment building on fire. the teenager seen climbing out from the fourth floor. >>> the breaking headline as we come on the air tonight involving actor alec baldwin and the search warrant now issued for his cell phone. >>> christmas eve, one week from tomorrow. and your money tonight. where are the deals? our

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jha? >> well, the evidence on this is actually surprisingly quite good there's this thing called test and stay test and stay suggests that when you have a kid who might be positive, you don't have to take the whole class out and put them into quarantine. if you can give tests to everybody else on a regular basis, you can bring kids and teachers back into school safely without causing much spread. >> many people are learning they're infected when they take at-home rapid tests. should there be a requirement to report at-home tests >> i would actually love to see such a requirement it would make an enormous difference in our ability to >> how many cases do you think the official number may be? track how much infection there is it's very clear at this point that we are substantially undercounting the size of this outbreak across the country. >> how many cases do you think the official number may be >> at the height of last year, the worst day of the pandemic, we had about 250,000 infections a

ashish jha. and dr. jha, great to have you with us. you heard the new numbers just before we came on tonight, from the cdc. omicron now the dominant variant in the u.s. 73% of new cases. and in some parts of the country, more than 90% of cases. this is going to rattle a lot of people. we knew highly transmissible, this was your suspicion last week, but this is very fast. >> yeah, good evening, david. thanks for having me back. it's very, very fast. i think it's caught a lot of health officials offguard, just how quickly it's become dominant. we expected it by the end of december. to get there before christmas is a little bit of a surprise, but it is a very contagious variant. >> doctor, we're hearing a lot of breakthrough cases, even those who have been vaccinated, two shots, and boosted. so far. and you heard matt say this moments ago, at least among those who have vaccinated and boosted, milder ssymptoms, at least so far. >> yeah, that's the big difference now between this and previous variants, is that we are going to see vaccinated

ashish jha, dean of the brown university school of public health. dr. jha, great to have you. and i want to start with that news late today from the cdc, now reducing the isolation period for those who have been infected with covid from ten days down to five, if you're asymptomatic followed by five days of wearing a mask around others. they're also reducing the quarantine time if you're exposed. this is a dramatic shift. is this the right move right now, given what we're seeing with omicron and do we have concrete data on how long people are actually contagious, especially with this new variant? >> whit, first of all, thanks for having me back. i think this is a terrific move. there's really no reason why we need to be isolating people for ten days anymore. i think we have very good evidence that most people, particularly those who are vaccinated and boosted, are not contagious for that long. i think adding five days of mask wearing brings more confidence. we'll get more data from omicron as the weeks go on, but i think this is clearly the right move for the country. >> i know

jha, i'd like to start with you here for a moment. we know that you have been advocating for a shortened isolation period for some time now. i follow you on twitter. i know a lot of people in this country do as well. you also recommended that people that test negative at the end of those five days should leave isolation. but your key point was testing negative at the end of five days. we also learned that some airline ceos wrote to the cdc last week to ask them as well to shorten the isolation period to five days, and they also asked for a negative test to end isolation. you obviously know that the cdc did not make that specific recommendation. what do you make of the cdc's decision yesterday to shorten isolation to five days without requiring a negative test at the end of it? >> and thanks for having me back. i do think a shorter isolation period makes sense for a lot of reasons. ten days is unnecessary for a vast majority of people. and it's pretty disruptive to people's lives. people can't get back to their families and their kids.

jha was just talking about. everybody should get tested before the gathering. test the individual who is the highest exposure, as in don't test grandma, she's unlikely to be spreading covid to everybody else, test the college student who just came home who may have been in bars and restaurants last week. so use those tests in a judicious way and think about vaccines, masking or testing, you need to have two out of three to gather safely. >> appreciate everything you guys are doing. thank you very much. >>> and i hope all of you have a merry christmas and a happy knew year. there is more breaking news we're following here. the former police officer kim potter now convicted on two counts of manslaughter in the shooting death of daunte wright. tonight his family is speaking out. hi. so you're the scientist here. does my aveeno® daily moisturizer really make my dry skin healthier in one day? it's true jen. this prebiotic oat formula moisturizes to help prevent dry skin. impressive. aveeno® healthy. it's our nature.™ new daily moisture for face. we've been waiting a

jha, thank you for being with us.right now everybody knows somebody or perhaps several people who have covid right now. what do we know about the transmissibility of omicron? >> good morning. thank you for having me back. what we know is that this virus is spreading very, very quickly. doubling in numbers about every two to three days. that's unlike anything we've seen. we think it's a combination of inherently being more transmissible and being able to get by people who are vaccinated and cause at least mild breakthrough infections. >> mild breakthrough infections for people who have been vaccinated. but for those who have not, what do we know about the severity of omicron? >> there's still a lot we don't know at this point. there's a little bit of data out of south africa that suggests maybe it's milding. the data out of the uk suggests that maybe it's not milder. this can pose a very substantial threat. >> we are in the middle of the holiday season, the busiest travel week we believe since the beginning of this pan

jha and dr.f there were more tests available, a requirement would have been the end of those five days you need a test before you can end isolation. i don't know if you heard either of them say that or if you have a reaction to that observation? >> i did. we certainly believe that's a good idea. the u.k. reduced the number of quarantine day to seven only after two negative tests. we have a testing problem in this country obviously. that's part of the lodggistical problem in this country. why is it okay to have symptomatic people coming back and being infectious. we got to get through this pandemic fatigue and make good decisions of ending it and not adding to it. >> as i am watching television and these terrible stories of flights being cancelled during the holiday weekend and people being stranded and not seeing loved ones. all i can wonder whether sick passengers, in fact, i will say it more specifically, unvaccinated passengers are getting crew sick. do you have any reaction to that otherwise?

jha on that in a moment. but we're going to begin with whit johnson leading us off here. >> reporter: tonight, pfizer releasing early data suggesting two shots plus the booster appear to stand up against the new variant, and could be a key tool in the fight against omicron. dr. anthony fauci saying the news makes him, quote, breathe a little better. >> when you get that third shot boost, it dramatically increases the level of laboratory-projected protection. this is good news about the booster protection. >> reporter: early results from pfizer found that high levels of antibodies from a booster may better defend against omicron. but when the standard two-dose vaccine took on the new variant, antibody levels dropped 25 times lower. pfizer saying two doses may not stop infection, but are still likely effective in preventing severe disease. >> people should go get their third dose now, not wait. >> reporter: pfizer's data coming on the heels of a small study out of south africa that also found omicron appeared t

jha, that has people thinking about it. is this now, in your opinion, what responsible companies, businesses need to be doing? >> yes. look, i think what we're doing is we're heading toward a point. we understand to be fully vaccinated. to be fully truly vaccinated you need three shots. that's a change. we're obviously learning things in this pandemic and that is where we're heading scientifically. and, by the way, our university, brown university is mandating a booster. we want to keep people safe on campus and in the classroom. that's going to be an essential part of getting through this pandemic. >> let's talk about what a lot of folks are talking about with their family members, with their friends. should we be having that gathering over the holidays? should i be getting on a plane and traveling? should i take that long-awaited european vacation? so many people are reassessing whether or not to continue with their plans, even those fully vaccinated with boosters in my experience. what do you say to them? >> some things

jha?. i think what you describe is certainly a major part of it. we're almost two years into this pandemic. people are tired. i know a lot of people have been very careful who are starting to let down their dpguard. that's one. obviously, another fact that we have so much of the country not fully vaccinated, and with delta not boosted yet. and that combination is really harming us. and in the northern half of the cup where it's cold, it's a real challenge. >> we've just received first cdc report of the omicron variant here in the united states of the 43 people known to be infected. most had are what are described as mild symptoms. but most of these people were, in fact, vaccinated. so dr. jha, what do you make of that? >> yeah, it doesn't tell us that much about severity of this disease. we expect the people who are having breakthrough infections to have mild disease. that's not surprising. my suspicion is that there are probably many more cases. we just haven't identified them. so as we d

ashish jha.e of the news israeli health minister says that there are indications people received a vaccine booster are protected against omicron? >> yeah. i mean, that -- that sounds optimistic. you know, and that's -- that's potentially good news yeah we heard something similar from the south african minister spokesperson as well. saying you got some 60 million people living in south africa. 16 million roughly have been vaccinated. but the majority of who they are seeing testing positive are the unvaccinated. so these are some early clues and they -- they have to see how this continues to -- if that data continues to hold up. one thing i think is interesting, anderson, if you look at the trajectory in south africa over the past few variants and sort of look what has happened. the original variant, and then beta, delta, you see sort of this interesting -- you know, these interesting peaks. i don't know if we have the graphic, we can put it up. but basically, you see a significant surge and then a

jha on all of this tonight. what president biden said just a short time ago about the omicron variant, his warning now to americans.

ashish jha crystal ball. what does 2022 look like? is it the year we finally get this thing under control, or are we in this for the long haul? >> yeah. i think it is definitely the year we get it under control, and let me explain why. this holiday season, no one thinks this is the holiday season we were hoping for, but contrast it to last year. it's so much better. well, next holiday season, covid won't be completely gone. it'll be endemic and it will be around, but while the virus continues to change, so do we. we're building better tools and we now have the pfizer pill that will be widely available hopefully by earlier part of this new year. that will be a really important tool. a lot of people will get vaccinated and infected, but that will build population immunity. we'll have more variants, and each of them will impact us less and less, and we will get to a point certainly by the end of this new year coming up we'll get to a point where the waves of infection will not have a big effect on hospitals and people will go on and not

jha, thank you for joining us.ith that major news from the cdc, cutting in half the isolation time for asymptomatic infections from ten days down to five days. given how rapidly omicron is sweeping across the country, is five days of quarantine enough to stop the spread of this variant? >> yeah, good morning and thanks for having me back. i think it is for people who are asymptomatic. people do most of the spreading when they're most contagious the couple days before they have symptoms and usually in two to three days after symptoms begin. if five days later you feel well, the cdc recommends -- and i agree with this -- that people can break out of isolation, but continue to wear masks when around others for at least five more days. if people followed that that would be a reasonable alternative to what we have now. >> the cdc is not requiring people get a negative test result to end isolation. this is something you had been calling for. is it a mistake not to require at least one negative test? >> yeah, i think it w

jha on all of this tonight.sident biden said just a short time ago about the omicron vari

ashish jha and dr. sanjay gupta, thank you very, very much. we're staying on top of this story. >>> an important note to our virs. join sanjay and and anderson cooper for a cnn global town hall on coronavirus and the omicron threat. dr. anthony fauci is the special guest. that's later tonight, 9:00 p.m. eastern only here on cnn. >>> just ahead -- the new revelation about a positive covid test that former president trump apparently kept secret days before he debated joe biden. and later, the former president was hospitalized within a few days. >>> and we're also following breaking news on the michigan school shooting suspect now charged with first-degree murder and terrorism. the prosecutor says his parents may be charged as well. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." right, girl? >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ ♪ ♪ there are beautiful ideas that remain in the dark. but with our new multi-cloud experience, you have the flexibility you need to unveil them to the world. ♪ step up. prep up. to help keep you free from the

jha, thank you so much for being with us. the government is ordering the rapid tests but what else should they be doing to stop this wave and as we saw in trevor's piece, the staggering demand for testing, people can't find tests. what should the government do anticipating a next wave? >> thank you for having me plenty of work to do getting us through this wave. >> christmas eve is tomorrow. does omicron change how you'll be celebrating the holiday? >> we're keeping it smaller. i haven't got any major holiday parties. we're getting together with family and friends. everybody is vaccinated and boosted. i got a bunch of rapid tests. we have enough so everybody that's coming can get tested. definitely a little different christmas, much better than the last one. >> for those people planning to go to gatherings and can't find a test,what should they do? should they opt for a pcr or rapid test? >> for gatherings rapid tests are better. pcr tests quite good as well. they can take too long to come back. if you can't get a test at all

jha, great to have you. and i want to start whit that ws lateod tay fromhe t cdc, now reducing the isolation peodri for tseho who haveee bn inctfeed with covid from ten days down to vefi. yifou're asymptomat.ic follow bedy five days of weangri a mask around others. they'r aelsoed rucinghe t quaranti tneime if y'roue poexsed. isth is ara dmatic shtif. is this the right meov right now, geniv what wee 'rseeing with ocrmion and do we have nccorete data on how long people are actulyal contagisou, peescially wh itthis new varit?an >> whit, first of all, tnkhas for hangvi me ba.ck tihink this is a terrificov me there's reayll no reason w whye ne tedo be isotilang peopleor f ten da ysanyme.or ihi tnk we have very good evidenceha tt most peop,le particullyar those who heav vaccatined and bstooed areot n ntcoagious f torhat long. ihi tnk adding five days of mask wearingri bngsor me confenidce. 'll getor me data,ut b i tnkhi isth is clearlyhe t rightov me for the uncotry. >> i kwno a lot ofeo pple and sibunesses weer e

ashish jha, thank you so much. i really appreciate you being here. >> thank you. >>> some of the social media reaction that's already coming to the program. let's see it. mass testing, a month from now is a botched response. this should have already been available full stop. glitter in my veins, you know, hindsight's 2020. i can't argue with that. i wish there were widespread testing already. there is a legit mate question as to whether this is now too little too late for all the reasons that you've identified. one more quickly if i have time for it. i disagree that a test should be sent out to every american. the only people who will gladly use it and want more are the vaccinated. the people who are not unvaccinated -- all right, sissy, i get your point. in my day-to-day, in my real life just out and ant, going to work, seeing people at starbucks, i'm seeing people who are masked. and my presumption is they're vaccinated. they're the ones who have been doing the right thing all along. and it's in another area wher

jha, thank you so much for joining me. so some new york business leaders say they were caught off guard by de blasio's vaccine mandate you just heard about. one said that employers don't want to be enforcement agents. we are at the point of the pandemic where this really is necessary? >> dana, thanks for having me back. i think we're all just exhausted and need this thing to come to an end. and the way it's going to come to an end is if most americans get vaccinated. so i fully understand what the mayor of new york is doing. it's obviously on the aggressive side of policy. but this is going to be an important piece of evidence. i think if we can really drive vaccination numbers into the 90s in new york city, we will see what the benefits are. but all the data we have suggests it's going to make a big difference. >> let's talk about the omicron variant. dr. anthony fauci told jake tapper that early data on the omicron's disease severity are a bit encouraging. but he also says it's too early to say whether it causes less sev

ashish jha, doctor, as always, thank you back to the original question. can we, should we even, cut isolation times for fully vaccinated people who test positive >> yeah, shep, first, thanks for having me back the key question is can you do it safely? that's what everybody is going to wonder about. i think the answer is yes. there is very, very gooda lot less evidence vaccinated people do a lot less shedding of the virus, they become noncontagious much quicker, and so what i and lots of others have been calling for is something close to five days with a negative antigen test, with a negative rapid test where you get the results in 15 minutes. maybe, if we can do that, that i think is reasonably safe to do the problem is, we should beoble studying this stuff. the cdc should have been running large studies on this. it's going make an enormous difference if we can get people back to work quickly >> the president said we weren't behind on testing. who knew this variant was going to come along? you and all the other doctors at the cdc have been telling us ther

jha, let's bring it back home here.osted, you've done all the things, you've done everything you've been asked to do and yet places are still shutting, you're still being told you maybe shouldn't get on a plane or shouldn't see people who haven't been vaccinated or you can't work from your office any longer. it feels like even though you're doing all of the things, you're still paying for the choices of those who refuse to get vaccinated. >> so first of all, thanks for having me back. obviously an incredibly frustrating moment two years into this pandemic. i would say people need to think about two things. one is our own individual risk. and the second is thinking about the broader societal situation. individually, if you're vaccinated and boosted, you're not in march of 2020 anymore. you may get infected. this is a virus that's very contagious. but you're going to do fine. we've not seen vaccinated, boosted people get particularly sick from this. i hate to even say this but it might be milder than the flu for vaccinate

jha is with us answering the big questions. >>> urgent investigation. the death toll now rises to four students after a michigan high school shooting. the 15-year-old shooter appears in court facing first degree murder and terrorism charges. this morning, why the shooter's parents also might face charges. were there warning signs? and why authorities are convinced the attack was premeditated. >>> the end of roe v. wade? the supreme court appearing ready to upend the landmark abortion rights ruling. what it could mean for millions of women across the country. >>> shutdown showdown. lawmakers scrambling to reach a deal to keep the government running. why a group of republican senators are threatening to block a deal. >>> abc news exclusive. alec baldwin opens up for the first time about the fatal movie set shooting. >> you've described it as a one in a trillion shot and the gun was in your hand. how do you come to terms with that? this morning, what the lawyer for "rust" assistant director is saying about the tragedy. >> dave has told me since day one tha

ashish jha joins us now. dr. jha is the dean of the brown university school of public health good morning to you. >> good morning, craig thanks for having me back here >> yes, of course. let's start with that news out of south africa this morning how encouraged should we be by this new research that shows the omicron outbreak there fell off almost as quickly as it hit, it would seem >> yeah, it's really encouraging. i'm obviously hoping the same thing will happen here in the united states. they have a little bit of a different immuno ill profile lots of people previously infected fingers crossed, craig, that would be terrific if the infection numbers here could drop off quickly as well after it peaks. >> let's talk about testing for a moment full disclosure, i went to two drugstores yesterday in hopes of getting luck in finding one of those at-home rapid tests, no luck you've seen the lines at testing sites all over this country. a lot of folks who want to get tested before the holiday, and traveling, they're not

jha, should we be doing?like we have never had a vocabulary or fluency for dealing with mental health in this country. there's a stigma, a lack of resources, a lack of ability to help a loved one if they don't want to help themselves. what should we be doing? what does that effort look like if we all agree it's a national problem? >> yeah, so, it is a national problem, and i think the first thing we can do is start normalizing it, talking about it more openly. i think what you're doing on this show is really helpful. we have got to bring it out of the shadows. that's number one. number two is we have got to figure out how to get more people access to mental health services. it's not just psychiatrists and psychologists and social workers. there's a whole host of different mental health experts and professionals that have -- that we've got to be able to tap into. and i think third, but certainly not least here, is we've got to have a national conversation about the tradeoffs we're willing to make as a country.

jha is here live. our studio to talk about that and more. >>> first let's go to whit johnson who is at a hospital and vaccination center in the bronx in new york. good morning, whit. >> reporter: robin, good morning. this new data from pfizer appears to reinforce a previous study by scientists in south africa. both suggesting that the vaccines still work but are perhaps less effective against the omicron variant. this is all preliminary, though, and we expect to learn a lot more in the coming weeks. a new study in pfizer out just this morning indicates the omicron variant likely chips away at the efficacy of its vaccine, but the shots still provide some protection. especially against severe disease and receiving a third booster dose appears to significantly offset the variant's impact. >> there are a lot of unknowns. >> reporter: pfizer's ceo speaking at a "wall street journal" event saying his company could have a vaccine for the new variant by spring if needed. >> if there is a need for the vaccine w

jha said this. >> this is the year we get it under control.his holiday season, no one thinks this is the holiday season we were hoping for. but contrast it to last year. it's so much better. well, next holiday season, i doubt it will be gone. it will be endemic. it will be rpbd. but it will be much, much better than this year. while the virus continues to change, so do we. >> break out your crystal ball. is 2022 going to be the year we finally get a hold of covid. >> it depends on how you define getting a hold of it. it is a winter virus. we will probably see a surge next winter as well. but the question is what level of disease and hospitalization and death we're willing to live with. two years before this outbreak occurred, the pandemic occurred, influenza caused 700,000 hospitalizations and 60,000 deaths. could we have dramatically reduced this by masking and social distancing over the winter? yes. we grandfather a certain level of cases, hospitalizations and deaths. i'm not sure what the numbers are. i agree with dr. jha. next winter, it p

jha, thanks. we preesappreciate it. >>> the biden administration pushing back on the house january 6th committee's request for some trump white house documents. ready to turn your dreams into plans and your actions into achievements? explore over 75 programs and four-week classes at national university. your future starts today at nu.edu. one of the worst things about a cold sore is how it can make you feel. but, when used at the first sign, abreva can get you back to being you in just 2 and a half days. be kinder to yourself and tougher on your cold sores. [upbeat acoustic music throughout] ♪ i'm gonna keep on lovin' you ♪ turns out everyone does sound better in the shower. and it turns out the general is a quality insurance company that's been saving people money for nearly 60 years. for a great low rate, and nearly 60 years of quality coverage, go with the general. i always dreamed of having kids of my own. ♪ ♪ now i'm ready for someone to call me mom. at northwestern mutual, our version of fin

jha, i exhale and feel a lot better. so i want to say thank you so much for being with us this morning. we appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> we're going to have more on covid's impact for the holidays, the skyrocketing demand for testing. all of that will be come up in our next hour. >>> and now potentially to that fatal below to president biden's domestic agenda delivered by a fellow democrat. west virginia senator joe manchin announcing he will not build back the $2 billion build back better bill effectively killing it. the president and his party now scrambling to respond. garrett haake has the latest on all of it. >> reporter: senator manchin spent months personally negotiating with the president and has left the white house and many of his fellow democrats reeling. now this bill which would provide climate change, he universal pre-k may well be impossible to pass. west virginia senator joe manchin dealing a devastating blow to his party's nearly $2 trillion top priority. singing the build back better bill in a

jha, appreciate your time as always.alone vaccinated to bring this all to an end some day. the effects are turning up in new polling and for that we turn to harry enten with more. so what are you looking at? >> look, if you look right now where we are as a country, look among adults, what do you see? north of 80% of folks have gotten at least one dose. when you look at the fully vaccinated and that drops down to a little north of 70%. now look at those who have gotten the booster. it's less than 20%. obviously the race to get people boosted up has only just begun, but even if you look at the polling -- there's new polling from the kaiser family foundation. what does it show? 53% of adults say they have gotten or will likely get the booster, and that's only a little changed from last month with 50% -- or two month ago, october, 50%. we've got first doses but when it comes to boosters we're a long ways off. >> also break down politically by state, red state/blue state. >> it absolutely does. if you look among those fully v

let's talk to ashish jha from the university of public health. thanks for joining us.k you, pamela, for having me back. what we've learned so far is that two shots of a vaccine are probably not going to be enough to keep you from getting infected with this variant. but three shots, two shots plus a booster, helps a lot. that's number one. number two, i think what we're learning is that this is incredibly contagious. it is going to spread like wildfire across the united states, and we've got to be ready for it. even if it's milder than previous versions, we don't know if it is, we really have to figure out how to manage it in the weeks ahead. >> reporter: what about for kids? do we have a data on how it could impact kids? >> there was some preliminary data early that maybe it's a bit more dangerous for kids. i haven't seen any data that really has panned out on that front. obviously kids five and above can get vaccinated and i think it's you are general that pare -- it's urgent that people do that. but i think kids five and above if they contract it will do okay. >> tha

ashish jha argues that while the omicron variant seems to lead to breakthrough cases among vaccinatedple, hospitalizations and deaths will remain largely among the unvaccinated. dr. jha will discuss it later on "morning joe." >>> still ahead, the very latest on the legal bill over president biden's mandates for private businesses. >>> plus, "saturday night live" show had a covid outbreak. how they made it work without a live audience. those stories and a check on the weather when we come right back. e weather when we come right back. ♪ [laughing and giggling] (woman) hey dad. miss us? (vo) reflect on the past, celebrate the future. season's greetings from audi. >>> a federal appeals court rules on friday they can enforce the testing for companies with more than 100 employees. the ruling follows a sixth circuit ruling which blocked the mandate earlier in the month. the white house said it will protect workers, quote, especially as the u.s. faces the highly transmissible omicron variant. republican and conservative groups say they will appeal friday's decision to the u.s. supreme court.

jha is the dean of the school of public health. good morning >> good morning. thanks for having me back. >> we're looking at alarming new numbers. we're on pace to hit a record over the next several days more than 200,000 people testing positive every day right now and that doesn't really include all the christmas cases that we're likely to see. so when will we see the impact from all those holiday gatherings and when should people really be getting tested? >> it's a great question i expect that we're going to see a huge spike in cases right after the must year. that's what we saw last year it's probably in that first week, january 4th or 5th that's when all the states will be reporting, as well. so we're hitting record incomes without even all the states reporting. so i'm worried about what is coming in the next couple of weeks in terms of infections and people should get themselves tested as soon as -- certainly if they have symptoms, but also when they get back from travel >> dr. jha, one of the other alarming things that we are seeing is a spike in pediatri

jha notes most who are vaccinated and boosted will not get severe illness, that will not be true ford. despite being nearly two years into this pandemic, scenes such as this one are still playing out across the country. this new video showing dozens of people waiting in a line that stretches around a strip mall in new jersey. all of those individuals hoping to just get a covid test. moments ago, connecticut's governor announced that he is calling up nearly 100 national guard soldiers and airmen and women to distribute covid at-home tests and n95 masks. today there is new pushback as well after the cdc shortened the isolation period are? people who test positive from ten days to just five. alexandria field reports, some worry this could lead to even more coronavirus cases. >> it's like this big virus blizzard. i call it a firestorm. >> reporter: as covid cases surge, a balancing act from the cdc. new guidance cutting down the isolation period from ten days to five days for infected people who are asymptomatic or with symptoms resolving could critically help keep the lights on. it aims

ashish jha, a great medical mind from brown university's school of public health, just wrote a columnsome key perspective on what he thinks our way forward should be. he writes in "the atlantic," don't panic about omicron but don't be indifferent either. navigating the next wave will require charting a middle course between dismay and dismissal and our clear goals must be preventing deaths, preventing hospitals from having crushing caseloads and keeping schools and businesses open. who so you do we do that? we need more vaccinations, he says, a massive increase in the availability and use of rapid tests, a clear strategy for schools, and we can all make modest sacrifices in the coming weeks, like avoiding large holiday parties and other unmasked indoor gatherings. what says another pandemic preparedness md? joining me now is dr. zeke emanuel, a member of president biden's advisory board during the transition and former white house health policy adviser. dr. emanuel, thanks for coming back. do we yet know the omicron's severity of disease in comparison to prior strains? >> no. it's not

ashish jha said it may be time to change the way we track the pandemic. >> for two years the pandemicceded hospitalizations. so you could look at infections and know what was coming. even through the delta wave that was true because it was largely unvaccinated people who were getting infected. omicron changes that. this is the shift we've been waiting for in many ways where we move to where fewer vaccinate and particularly those unboosted, you might get infected, a couple of days of not feeling so great, but you're going to bounce back. that's very different from what we've seen in the past. so i no longer think infections generally should be the major metric. obviously we can continue to track infections unvaccinated people, because those people will end up in the hospital at the same rate, but we really have to focus on hospitalizations and deaths now. >> there are also lingering issues with holiday travel. nearly 2,000 flights were canceled on christmas. 2,000. united and delta say they were forced to cancel flights due to shortages of staff due to covid. according to the website f