the cdc. there's going to be people that are going to criticize them at all times on both sides. and i think -- but they just have to continue to put their heads down and do their jobs, like they're doing. >> and you have such a unique perspective because you are on the inside of that decisionmaking process. i know that there have been several public health experts who have been saying that publicly that this decision is based on science that is a year old and actually excludes data on the omicron variant, which is the dominant strain in this country, as we were just saying there based on the cdc. if that is true, and tell us if it is not true, but if that is true, is this guidance a bit of a gamble? why make the change now before we have more data on how long people who have omicron are in fact contagious? >> well, dr. jha can talk a little bit about the difference between omicron and delta and whether that has any bearing. what i can say is that the cdc makes its judgments on their own with

now, the cdc obviously decided not to use that. and instead, what they are saying is people should mask up for another five days. if people actually complied with that and had a high-quality mask, i think that'd be a reasonable alternative. i just -- i just worry about how much people will follow it and i think a negative test would have been much more effective. >> mr. slavitt, are we unable to require a negative test to release people from isolation after five days because there are still not enough tests in this country? i mean, is that a public health failing on the part of this administration? i am curious to get your thoughts as to why the cdc did it this way because i know there is reporting that the biden administration dismissed a plan pitched back in october to ramp up at-home testing ahead of the holidays. so, the need to increase rapid testing around the holidays seems to have been a known concern, at least for officials. >> yeah. well, and i can speak to that story because i was actually part of that call. the vanity f

at the beginning of the pandemic , the cdc had to rebuild its own diagnostic test despite the fact that other countries already had diagnostic tests going out. unfortunately, the test didn't work and that caused a big delight. and mike sprint the cdc i have learned that they just don't have a willingness to engage with private business. that is a big problem. there is innovation, diagnostic innovation, vaccine innovation going on in the private sector and cdc should be playing that central coordinating role. that's a big problem. if you're not willing to be that coordinating role in a pandemic, that's a problem. caroline: why is that? previous directors have said there is a lack of investment. you would think outsourcing would do away with the sheer scale of money they need to deploy themselves. >> recently, i was in a senior level conversation with a cdc official. i said we have been building this early warning system for a decade. we saw this unusual spread of illness in march 2020 weeks before case counts surged. as early as 2017, we called the worst flu season on record months befor

the cdc reported. hospitalizations have gone up 25% in the last week. dan: contra costa county is tightening its mask mandate starting tomorrow. regardless of vaccination status, people will be required to wear a mask indoors. the county had an granted an exemption by the state a couple of weeks ago. health officials say today's decision is because of a rise in cases and hospitalizations over the past week. ama: we surpassed 5 million cases today since the start of the pandemic. the positivity rate has quadrupled since the start of december. we have a look now at where things stand across the state and the bay area. liz: it certainly is alarming how fast the virus is sperry -- spreading. the highly transmissible omicron variant has led to covid-19 case rates we have not seen in

from the director of the cdc in the last 24 hours. let's get you to it with an epidemiologist from the johns hopkins bloomberg school of public health. the cdc has cut isolation from 10 days down to five. no symptoms, you can go back to work. some companies, particularly on wall street, require negative tests to get into the office. the director of the cdc suggested you should not look for a negative pcr tests because you might test positive for up to 12 weeks. if you have tested positive, you have completed five days of isolation, you no longer have symptoms, should companies drop the requirement for a negative pcr tests? >> there is another piece to the five days, you need to wear a mask for five days after. it is still 10 days, but it is five days of isolation and five days of mask wearing. the issue with the testing is pcr tests can indeed stay positive for longer. it is not really informing whether or not you are infectious for others. the antigen test tend to have shorter positivity, and they are looking for the virus. of course

resolving according to the cdc website. is d.c. going to adopt the new guidelines when it comes to isolation or stick with the old ones. >> well, i know that our d.c. health officials are reviewing those closely. we have typically followed the cdc's guidance and issued our own d.c. health guidance. we haven't issued the new guidance yet, but we are following it closely. we do think it is very important that we give the public some easy to follow recommendations so they can keep themselves safe and their families safe. so confusion with the cdc and d.c. health, we don't think supports the public health. so we're looking at it very closely and we'll update our guidance accordingly. >> but you haven't made a decision whether or not to also adopt that shortened isolation period yet? >> we have not updated our d.c. health guidance yet. >> okay. mayor muriel bowser, thank you for joining us this morning. >> thank you. >> thank you. >>> just ahead, a jury finds ghislaine maxwell is guilty of c sex trafficking a minor for jeffrey e

over the past few months, the cdc has collaborated with school districts across the country to evaluate a new strategy known as test to stay. today, we are releasing cdc evidence. it allows children to stay in schools they have been exposed so they don't have to miss school. and the test to stay protocol, there is increased testing of close contacts after a covid-19 exposure and that needs to be at least twice during seven days after exposure. if exposed children meet certain criteria and continue to test negative, they can stay in school instead of quarantining at home. the cdc is releasing two reports with the use of test to stay and how it worked in two communities. these studies demonstrate that it works to keep unvaccinated children in schools safely. in order for test to stay to be implemented, some key prevention measures need to be included. in both studies, masks were worn consistently and correctly. " of a positive case were monitored for symptoms and stayed home if they became ill printed those without symptoms had regular testing. test to stay is an encouraging practice to k

the cdc now projecting more than 21,000 deaths in just the next two weeks. and a new report suggesting the incubation period of the omicron variant may be three days, which is less than the delta variant. tonight, questions about the cdc's new guidelines for people with asymptomatic cases, cutting isolation time from ten days down to five. >>> new details about the deadly shooting spree in colorado. at least five people killed. several wounded, including a police officer. police investigating seven different crime scenes from denver to lakewood. authorities late today identifying the suspect, saying he was known to law enforcement and harbored extremist views. >>> news tonight about the 14-year-old girl accidentally shot and killed by police in los angeles. her mother in tears, describing her daughter dying in her arms. authorities releasing body camera video. officers opening fire on a suspect inside a store, not knowing the girl and her mother were in the dressing room nearby. >>> america's travel nightmare continues. roughly 1,100 flights canceled today.

according to the cdc. joining us is the cdc director dr. rochelle walensky. doctor, thank you for being with us this morning. it cuts the isolation period in half if you're asymptomatic. how do you settle on five days for everyone? >>st good morning, kaitlan. thanks for having me. we looked at several areas of science here. first, the science of how much howe transmission happens in the period of time after you're infected. we know the most amount of transmission occurs in the one to two days before you develop symptoms, the two to three days after you develop symptoms. if you map that out, the five days account for someone between 85% to 90% of all transmission that occurs. we really wanted to make sure that during the first five days you were spending in isolation, that's where most of it occurs. of course there is this tail end period of time in the last five days where we are asking you to mask. but the other things we were looking at is the epidemiology here. we are seeing and expecting even more cases of this omicron variant. many cases are mildly sympt

and that's what the cdc did. >> while we're on the subject of mitigating risk, why do you think the cdc has not taken a position on the quality of masks? because it does seem as though there is data suggesting that an n95 mask is much, much better than a cloth mask. i don't even know if a cloth mask does anything at this point. can you clear this up? >> right. the reason the cdc has not done that, if you ask dr. walensky, and she articulates it when she gets asked that question is that the cdc is concerned that people just wear a mask, any mask. there are so many people who just don't want to wear a mask that if we can get anybody to wear a mask, that's a big plus. obviously, the epitome of the best masks are the n95s. n95s are less likely to be worn because they are not particularly comfortable. you put an n95 on for a period of time, it is not the easiest thing to wear. so the decision was made by the part of the people at the cdc, we would rather have people wear a mask than have to worry about people not wearing a mask because it's uncomfortable. >> it's been more than a year since

the nbc guide, the director of the cdc, does the cdc have any credibility? it's not exactly the same but what you think? >> i'd have to say no and it reminds me of late summer when we saw the disaster of afghanistan unfold, the situation was so bad people could literally see with their own eyes things spiraling out of control, they didn't get that loss from the media from the podium, in this case, they are hearing different things and it is confusing to them and i think in terms of rochelle walensky or doctor fauci, these are individuals keep popping up, 1 million programs a day saying a bunch of different things and they outlived their usefulness of communicators. the president needs to come out and be the strong communicator about what's going on and he needs to level with the american people about what is happening. at the end of the day with a lot of these agents like the cdc, operating with a handshake agreement. americans generally trust these institutions until they don't. i think we need to be mindful of the fact that the more they continue to delive

so the cdc every week puts out reports. all the new cases out there, "x" percent are delta and "y"% are only crone and they have been doing this throughout the pandemic. the cdc said the week of december 18th, they previously said new cases were 73% omicron and everyone was like, wow, that got very big very quickly. now they are saying, we're revising that estimate. we think it's actually 23%. that is obviously a gigantic difference, and they say the week of december 19th through 25th was 59%, so omicron does not seem to be spreading quite as quickly. delta is still holding its own. how did this happen? it is unclear. one thing that we know, you know, people think, phil, that every -- that we do genetic sequencing for every case, we don't. we have to do estimates. we do a few and then we estimate, but it's a bit of a problem that this happened because you start making treatment decisions based on these numbers, and that number austin powers to have been wildly off. phil? >> yeah. that might even be an understatement still.

the cdc lowering its estimate of the variant from 70 to 59%. that drop suggests while the new variant is on the rise, it was not infecting people at the same rate the agency had initially projected. >> pediatric hospitalizations are near their september peak. nationwide, hospitalizations of children with the virus have jumped on average nearly 50% in just one week. parents are understandable concerned as vaccination rates, particularly among the pediatric population, continue to lag, leaving many children vulnerable to infection. president biden now says the vaccine requirements for domestic travel could be imposed if his medical team recommend it. but dr. fauci said don't expect one for now. health officials are advising we should be bracing for case numbers to skyrocket in the new year. now to laeyla santiago in miami. we know sometimes the waits have been hours long. leyla. >> reporter: yeah, kaitlan. we are still seeing very long long lines here. miami-dade opened two new sites yesterday. they had to wait anywhere from three to four workers

the new data that omicron is likely less severe than delta, and new information from the cdc on when people are most contagious. >> most of your transmission potential happens in the one to two days before you have symptoms. >>> holiday travel nightmare. nearly 1,000 flights canceled today the massive pile-up in wisconsin as severe weather begins to roll through the southeast. >>> high stakes call president biden set to talk with vladimir putin tomorrow as fears grow that russia will invade ukraine. why did the russian president request the call >>> truly free returns. the secret policy at some major retailers that lets you keep the item you want to give back and the refund. >>> and the tributes pouring in for two towering figures we remember former senate leader harry reid and nfl great john madden. >>> this is nbc "nightly news" with lester holt. >>> good evening i'm kristin welker in for lester after the death of jeffrey epstein, the world has watched and waited as the jury deliberated for days about what would happen to his confidant, ghislaine maxwell. tonight they have found he

the cdc says the decision is based purely on the science. what does the science say? >> so the science says that people are most transmissible, most contagious, jake, in the time before they have symptoms or in the two to three days after. so the cdc's reasoning is, if you have covid-19, but you're asymptomatic or maybe you're mildly symptomatic and now on the mend, why are we keeping you out of work for ten days when you're probably just transmissible for just two or three days after you have symptoms. why stay out for ten days? i've talked to experts who support this. i've talked to experts who don't support this. what they all agree is that the way the cdc wrote these guidelines, you need probably a degree in law, medicine, public health and maybe even discourse to understand what they are saying. it's difficult. we've tried to boil it down. so if you have covid-19, if you actually are infected, if you are asymptomatic or you have had symptoms but they're resolving, you have isolated -- the cdc guidelines say isolate for five days and then for five more days, wear

the cases of the flu also spiking across the united states according to the cdc. with omicron surge, the country now faces the dual threat of these viruses. last year there were very few cases of the flu mostly because more people were wearing masks and we had more indoor capacity limits and more social distancing. now researchers say one of the main flu viruses has mutated and current vaccines may not do much to prevent infection. but, and this is key, getting a vaccine should prevent severe illness whether it is the flu or covid. >>> and back on the ground, the justice department is closing out 2021 with a surge in grants for public safety programs in cities across the country. many of the cities are struggling with an increase in the homicide rate. whitney wild has more from washington. >> reporter: laura, paula, the justice department is announcing that hundreds of communities and organizations are either getting or can apply for some of a $1.6 billion pot to help reduce crime as a lot of cities grapple with a pretty significant surge in violence. these grants

c. news asked the head of the cdc. today. he said, last week you said that the i'm a cron accounted for 73 percent of new infections. and now you say this week, it only accounts for 23 percent of new infections. how can you be believe? so let's, let's just say she's correct. let's just say so now. now i'm a client is going to do a quarter of the infections. so that means the other 75 percent are the delta variant, which this, this treatment does work on. so they are making this up as they go along on every level. you could not find logic. if you extend their comments to anything else, you can not find logical consistency. so i've, course it's politically motivated. i'm just like hydro clean hydro classical hydrochloric way early on, was politically motivated. oh, it has side effects. every drug you ever see a drug commercial on tv, those side effects will make you run the other way. every drug has side effects. so it's always been political. yeah, it's been about the right for sure. and now, ever since the pandemic began rule

why should americans trust the cdc? >> my job right now is to take all of the science and information that we have and to deliver guidance and recommendations to the american people that is adapted to the science at hand. this pandemic has given us a lot of new and updated science over the last two years, and it is my job to convey that science through those recommendations, and that is exactly what we are doing. >> that's the director of the cdc, and she's been pressed after the decision to relax isolation guidelines just as covid cases hit record numbers. the question is did she provide assurance that the agency can, in fact, be trusted? >>> and fully vaccinated. it's currently defined as two doses of either pfizer or moderna vaccines or one dose of the j&j. the question, is it now time to redefine that term? >>> and ghislaine maxwell, convicted of sex trafficking for her role in recruiting teenage girls for jeffrey epstein. the question this morning, is the case closed? it's "way too early" for this. ♪♪ >>> good

the cdc director is on board with the panel's recommendation. >> she says it emphasizes the agency's commitment to provide real-time scientific information to the public. the cdc director says if you have received the j and j shot get boosted 2 months after with pfizer or moderna. and if you have received the j and j shot more than 4 weeks ago. you are not at an increased risk for side effects in san francisco, camila barco kron 4 news. >> several large school districts across the state, including west contra costa have now delayed the vaccine mandate deadline. the district made this call after it was clear they were unprepared at thousands of students to their independent and virtual study programs this week west contra, costa county school board members followed the lead that was set by los angeles and voted to push the deadline from january 3rd until february 18th the state's vaccine mandate will follow the fda's full approval of the covid vaccine for each age group that is expected to happen in july of 2022. >> san francisco's largest landlord their toss investments says it will

the cdc today saying two children in the u.s. have died of the flu this month. some experts warning of an especially severe flu season amid concerns about the efficacy of the flu shot this year, combined with the pandemic. but they are still emphasizing the need to get that flu vaccine. >>> college bowl games are being called off for a second year in a row as covid cases climb and football teams are left with a shortage of players. the hawaii bowl, the military bowl, and fenway bowl have all been canceled. the university of miami withdrew from friday's sun bowl, citing a covid outbreak. and the nfl tonight, more players have tested positive this month than all of last year, according to espn. >>> two passings to note tonight. jean-marc vallee, the award-winning director behind the oscar-nominated film "the dallas buyer's club" and the hit tv show "big little lies," has died. he was found dead at his cabin in quebec city. his publicist says the death was unexpected. the cause is currently unknown. he was 58 years old. >>> and sarah weddington, the texas attorney

the cdc issues guidelines for the u.s. but not globally. it will be interesting to see what other companies and countries require as well. jonathan: i think we have taken an important step toward treating this differently. a step toward normalcy perhaps. in the near term operationally i think we see recent tension. from new york city, for our audience worldwide heard on radio and seen on tv with kailey leinz and matt miller i am jonathan ferro. this is "bloomberg surveillance ." ♪ jonathan: 69 record highs of the year so far on the s&p 500 could become 70. the equity market is up 12. yields are going nowhere. euro-dollar going nowhere. crude positive up to 76.55. the cdc decision for some people is a bullish call. matt: absolutely, because of the problems businesses have had with employees being out for a full 10 days, at least 10 days after testing positive and they shut down services some companies have shut down production and some companies have shut down retail outlets. if they can reduce that to five days, and the cdc says you can,

all of the prudence from the cdc , but also continue to understand the importance for yourselves and your families and community of getting vaccinated. those are the tools that we have. if we did not have these tools i would be telling you to be really worried. but we have tools. get vaccinated, get boosted, and the alleviation of the concern, even though we take all of this seriously. >> thank you, everybody. we look forward to the next briefing. ♪ announcer: c-span's "washington journal," every day taking your calls live on the air on the news of the day and discussing policy issues that impact you. coming up thursday morning the american psychological association doctor discusses the recent warning on youth mental health. a washington investigative reporter scott mcfarlane talks about the latest on the january 6 investigations. watch "washington journal" live on c-span or on c-span now, our new mobile app. join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments, text messages, and meets -- tweets. announcer: president biden's pick to lead the national highway traffic safety

so i don't think this is overstepping by the cdc, this is exactly what we want the cdc to do. their job is to quarantine and isolate. you're just watching them do this in a much broader sense. a distinction between a cruise ship and an airplane, for example, is the ability to control, isolate, and also deal with circulation. believe it or not, air circulation on airplanes is incredible, that's why you don't see people benching the entire airline industry. when i had to work in the white house, we worked on cruise ship outbreaks of other types. so this is something the cdc has done before, it just hasn't gotten as much publicity. i do think the industries can turn this around. it's a reflection of what we're seeing across the country. kids are going back to school next week. i'm not a fan of shutting schools down, but i think we're going to see schools in quarantine, in some phases of shutdown because we'll see so many cases, so it's similar. but i want to be positive about saying that we can then recover from this just as quickly because we know what we need to do so that peop

we should note we heard the cdc director, dr. michelle walensky, that they ramped up surveillance trying to find this, including the four airports in the united states, all of those trying to find these cases. part that far is getting contact information from the travelers who are coming from these nations where we note this is spreading, where those restrictions have gone into place which don't apply to american citizens, don't apply to legal residents. that presents a problem for them to try to contact trace as well. so that is something they'll be dealing with now that it has been identified here in the united states. >> kaitlan, stand by. i want to bring back dr. leana wen to react to this information you just shared, which is we now have our first identified case of omicron, this variant of covid here in the u.s., now detected in california. we were just discussing this idea that it is likely already in the u.s. and just hadn't been picked up yet, so i don't think this information is a huge surprise to anyone, but i do belie

why should americans trust the cdc? >> my job right now is to take all of the science and information that we have and to deliver guidance and recommendations to the american people that is adapted to the science at hand. this pandemic has given us a lot of new and updated science over the last two years, and it is my job to convey that science through those recommendations, and that is exactly what we are doing. >> that's the director of

so here's how the new guidance works. this is a quote from the cdc. people who test positive should isolate for five days and if asymptomatic at that time they may leave isolatio

all of the prudence from the cdc , but also continue to understand the importance for yourselves and your families and community of getting vaccinated. those are the tools that we have. if we did not have these tools i would be telling you to be really worried. but we have tools. get vaccinated, get boosted, and the alleviation of the concern, even though we take all of this seriously. >> thank you, everybody. how to address the issue at the hudson. this is 45 minutes. >> welcome, ladies and gentlemen. we are joined today by two distinguished senators who are leaders in

: facing the biggest surge we've ever seen the cdc director defending to cut the isolation time in half for people who are asymptomatic or whose symptoms are getting better. >> it really had a lot to do with what we thought people could tolerate. if we can get them to isolate we do want to make sure isolating in those first five days when they're maximum infectious. >> reporter: still, the new guidance is drawing fierce debate among health experts. >> there is absolutely no data that i'm aware about with the omicron that puts people coming out of isolation five days after they were first diagnosed with the virus. >> you either shutdown the society, which no one wants to do, or you try and get a situation where you can safely get people back particularly to critical jobs without having them be out for a full ten days. >> reporter: long testing lines are still snaking across the country. new cases are skyrocketing to numbers never seen before. deaths and hospitalizations key indicators at this moment are also climbing but not as quickly. >> are we seeing lower hospitalization rates becaus

big news from the cdc. new guidelines shortening the recommended isolation and quarantine times for those who test positive or exposed to the coronavirus. here's how it breaks down -- people who test positive but have no symptoms should, in fact, isolate five days instead of ten. and then wear a mask for those five days following. the if you guidelines apply to everybody, by the way, including the unvaccinated. we'll dig into that. all of this announced after the president met virtually with some of the nation's governors monday conceding that not enough has been done to expand covid testing capacity saying, there's a lot more work to be done, but making a pledge. >> just have to stay focused and continue to work together. my message to the governors is simple. if you need something, say something. and we, we're going to have your back, in any way we can. >> and then omicron forcing more closures across the board. apple temporarily shutting down about 20 of its retail stores after a wave of covid-19 hitting

companies respond to the guidance and the cdc will be very interesting dr. bruce lee, thanks for joining us today. >> thanks for having me. >>> coming up we look at the closer look at the top forming s&p sector of 2021 and see which stocks can keep the rally going in 2021. (swords clashing) -had enough? -no... arthritis. here. aspercreme arthritis. full prescription-strength? reduces inflammation? thank the gods. don't thank them too soon. kick pain in the aspercreme. you could wait... all night... for an email response from steve, who will sign back in at 9 am tomorrow morning. orrrr... you could find the answer right now in slack. and give steve a break. slack. where the future works. >>> it has been a banner year for nearly every corner of the market and none more so than the energy sector. it's the top performing sector in the s&p, up nearly, get this, 50% mirroring the rise in oil prices with just four days to go in the year. the energy sector is ready for the best year on record since its inception in 1989. let's talk to janine way, u.s. oil and gas ex

the cdc said the individual was a traveler who returned from south africa on november # 2ndnd. they were vaccinated but had not received their booster. they had mild symptoms that are improving. the cdc said all close contacts have been contacted and have tested negative. now san francisco mayor and the sf director of public health just held that press conference. they wrapped it up and as we listened he said that this isn't surprising. take a listen. >> i also want to say that this is not a surprise for those that have been following this we knew that omicron would be here. we thought it was already here. we just haven't detected it yet. this is cause for concern. it's also certainly not a cause for us to panic. >> now he reminded us there's still a lot we don't know about the variant like how transmissible it is or how effective the vaccines are against it. any more information we get regarding this case will be sure to update you. reporting from sfo. >>> the governor tweeted this response saying california's large scale testing and early detection systems have found the new

the cdc says the signs show most transmission happens early in the illness. so let's bring in former cdc director dr. tom freeden, and president and ceo of resolve to save lives. dr. freeden, great to have you on. the cdc is now cutting the quarantine time from ten days to five days. the "new york times" notes the following. quoting here. what do you think? is it important to test negative before you leave quarantine? did the cdc make a mistake here? >> let's step back and ask where we are. we're in a very different time. the omicron virus is enormously infectious. it's spreading like wild fire. it's not a wave. it's a flash flood. what that might do is make it difficult for airlines to operate, schools to operate, businesses to operate. and the data is showing that it spreads faster, not just spreads more, but spreads faster. most of that spread will happen a day or two before you feel sick and the first day or two after you feel sick. very up likely to happen after that. could you say in an ideal world, everyone would get a test before they come out. yeah,

so here's how the new guidance works. this is a quote from the cdc. people who test positive should isolate for five days and if asymptomatic at that time they may leave isolation if they can continue to mask for five days to minimize the risk of infecting others. now, that new guidance is sparking relief for some, confusion for others as americans attempt to navigate how to manage the virus at this point and, of course, the new variant. these changes come as new cases are surging across the country right now. the us .s. is averaging more th 237,000 daily cases. for many americans, this holiday season may be remembered for hours spent in long testing lines or desperately searching pharmacy shelves for at-home tests. our team of reporters following all the latest developments this morning, but first, to our senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen on this big shift in guidance from the cdc. good morning. explain it to all of us because it is coulnfusing, even the lite part where it says that the time. does that mean you need to be asymptomatic at t

rochelle walensky, director of the cdc, live on "the beat." first, eugene robinson from "the washington post," where he is a columnist and pulitzer prize winner, and libby casey. libby, when we look at the president today as well as these officials, and i'm about to be joined by one, there's an emphasis on taking the variant seriously while reminding people that it is not yet found to be deadly in the u.s. and it is not everywhere yet. does that policy message work, do you think, right now? >> well, yesterday, 2.2 million shots were administered, ari, including more than a million boosters. that's the highest single day since may. omicron may be causing alarm in people but it also may be waking them up. the message that you'll hear in a minute from dr. walensky as well as from the biden administration is, fight omicron, get vaccinated and boosted. but there's focusing also on what delta does. we have a lot of questions about omicron but we have a lot of answers about the delta variant. we're hearing a message from officials saying, look, if we

according to the cdc, nearly 60% of the country has been fully vaccinated. >> live in the studio. i'm rob nesbitt kron 4 news. thank you so much. robin on a national level and as the holiday travel season is approaching the cdc is working to modify the global testing order for travel. >> it revised order would shorten the timeline for required testing for all international travelers to one day before departure to the united states right now. people, rick, we are required to have a negative test within 72 hours to travel back to the united states. officials say that the shorter timeline would strengthen the already robust protocols in place for international travel, including requirements for foreign travelers to be fully vaccinated for now, the cdc continues to recommend all travelers get a covid-19. test 3 to 5 days after arrival and post travel quarantine for anyone who is unvaccinated. we're learning more about the omicron variant. if you want more information on it, you can always get it on our website. kron 4 dot com just scan this qr code on the screen right now and we'll ta

that's not the issue, according to the cdc. according to the cdc, what they're saying is that for the first five days an abintigen te would be predictive of whether a person is transmissable. it's much more likely predictive. as you get further into the course, namely, out to the seven, eight, nine, ten days, the predictive value of an antigen test to say weather you are transmissable to someone else is really not only not known, there is no evidence indicate that that has any predictive value. in fact, what they're telling us, and it's true, is that the fda approved that antigen test and never approved it for the purpose of saying it has any predictive value when you are eight, nine, ten days into the course, whereas early on it gives you much more predictive of weahether you are enficktiver transmissable. >> here's what i'm dr. fauci, here is what i am not hearing you say. it has nothing to do with test scarcity. >> right. oh, i said that. i said it three times, michael. sorry. it has nothing to do with a lack of testst. that

the cdc says with the profile of omicron, the majority of transmission right now is happening in the one to two days before the onset of symptoms, then two to three days after that hence, the five-day time line. kristin? >> sam brock starting off our coverage from miami. thank you. >>> there is still a lot of questions about the new recommendations. tonight i spoke with the president's top medical adviser, dr. anthony fauci and began by asking him about the cdc's decision to shorten the isolation time and why now. >> we have so many people simultaneously testing positive you want to make sure that particularly among essential workers that you get people out there much sooner and by much, i mean cutting it in half saying that five days of isolation, then come out and wear a mask for the rest of the time so you can keep people safe from getting infected from you if you still are infected, but at the same time getting you back to what might be an essential function in society. >> what do you say to people who are concerned that these revised quarantine guidelines are being driven solely

the hyper jump in numbers largely due to omicron, according to the cdc. >> it's hard right now. i hope people can do their part to get vaccinated. >> reporter: dr. jeff palo in wisconsin says new covid patients will likely spend the night in the er because his hospital is at capacity. >> many of them will be unvaccinated. they will have regrets. some will even ask they can be vaccinated tonight, but i will have to let them know that it's too late. >> reporter: joining medical teams on the front lines, more than 13,000 national guard troops deployed across 38 states. >> i just want to make sure i'm safe. dr. fauci says studies suggest that omicron is less severe than delta. one out of south africa showed fewer admissions to the icu, fewer patients in need of supplemental oxygen and shorter hospital stays for those infected with omicron compared to other waves. still many questioning why the cdc cut quarantine from 10 to 5 days those who work in close contact with the public worry they are now more likely to be exposed. >> we have policies that are putting this pandemic on the bac

you're in "the situation room." >>> and we begin with the breaking news on the cdc's new recommendations on how long covid patients should itis isolate themselves. tom, this is huge news. tell us more. >> jim, we've been expecting a change like this for several days now. like omicron itself, it's been moving very, very swiftly and now we know a little bit more. big news from the center for disease control. shortening the recommended time from ten days to five days if asymptomatic followed by five days of wearing a mask. the announcement came just hours after president biden admitted to the nation's governors covid testing has not kept pace with the omicron threat. >> it's not enough. clearly not enough. we know we would have gone harder, quicker if we could have. >> with covid cases soaring, more than 2,000 flights were grounded and nearly 3,000 delayed in the u.s. just today. that's on top of thousands over the weekend. and flight crews keep calling in sick even as holiday travelers keep coming. >> we actually changed our flight to a non-stop flight in hopes of hopefully not having any

jen ashton inside the cdc. what they're seeing across the nation and what has the cdc director most concerned? also, dr. jha here tonight answering your questions. if the boosters are, in fact, this effective against this new variant, what about children and the current timeline? >>> also tonight, the trial of former police officer kim potter now under way. officer potter charged with manslaughter for shooting and killing donte wright, who was unarmed during a traffic stop. she claims she confused her gun for her taser. donte wright's mother testifying about her final phone call with her son when he was stopped by the police. >>> tonight, on capitol hill, the head of instagram grilled about its effects on children, particularly young girls. so, what's being done? rachel scott on the hill tonight. >>> it was a case that horrified the country, so tonight, why was convicted killer scott peterson back in court today? the family of lacy peterson watching it all again in that courtroom. >>> tonight here, the never be

. >>> we begin with growing questions after the cdc shortened the isolation time for people with covid from ten to five days if they don't have symptoms. the cdc recommending a new quarantine period for those exposed to coronavirus to five days with no quarantine period at all if you got your booster dose. the changes are part of an effort to prevent further disruptions to daily life. it comes as the omicron variant is leading to a major surge across america. the u.s. is now averaging 237,000 new cases a day, approaching the all-time high of 251,000 last january. hospitalizations continue to climb, now 71,000. pandemic hospitalization records in four states have hit their all-time peak. and the number of americans killed by covid is nearing 1,500 a day. cnn's elizabeth cohen joining us now to explain these new cdc guidelines. i have to say, elizabeth, i had to read those guidelines four to five times. i think i understand much of it, but i'm really glad you're here to make sense of it for us. >> reporter: and they are so confusing. i read them over way more than that, talked to my prod

now, before tonight you may recall the recommendation had been to isolate for ten days, but now the cdc is saying you only need to isolate for five days as long as you are asymptomatic at that five-day point followed by five days of wearing a mask when around other people. now, this new guidance comes as the omicron variant sends daily case loads to record levels in parts of the united states. today president biden joined a call between his white house covid response team and state governors and the president acknowledged that the administration has not done enough to make covid tests available. we're going to have a lot more on all of that tonight. >>> also, we're going to have a few bits of good news for the white house as this year winds down. >>> plus, we even have some news from outer space. yeah, outer space. >>> but we begin tonight with the investigation into the january 6th attack on the capitol and what is shaping up to be a very busy start to the new year for the congressional committee that is actually carrying it out. now, before the holidays there was a flurry of developme