Omicron Variant Exploding News Today

Soon be our dominant variant. >> 80% of covid cases tested are now the omicron variant. >> the surge forcing a wave of cancellations. the nfl postponing games after a cluster of outbreaks. the rockettes canceling the rest of their season. there are growing concerns about this weeks holiday travel. >> the flights are full. the lobby is full. all the planes are full. >> where does that leave us heading into the holidays? >> well, not in a good place. >> the cdc predicts covid cases could spike thi...

Of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases, dr. anthony fauci. dr. fauci, welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you. >> let me start with the issue of omicron in this sense. on friday you suggested that it might be less severe. weve seen a lot of -- a new study out of the uk that seems to be perhaps sending a mixed signal. what can you share with us this morning on where omicron is and how much of a threat it is? >> well, the one thing thats very clear, and theres no doubt...

Omicron. thats a doubling time of anywhere from two to three days. when you have a doubling time thats that short a period, pretty soon that isolate is going to take over. >> i want to ask you to react to one thing. the vice president said in an interview on friday, we didnt see delta coming. i think most scientists did not, upon whose advice and direction weve relied. we didnt see delta coming, didnt see omicron coming. and thats the nature of what this awful virus has been, as it turns out has...

Welcome back. were glad to see our panelists, although, were back in our remote locations. im in a remote location because ive come into close contact with someone who tested positive in the last 48 hours in my household. also with us, pbs "newshour" chief correspondent amna nawaz. phil rucker from "the washington post," former democratic congresswoman donna edwards, and john podhoretz, editor of the "commentary." we have a lot to get to. amna, im going to begin with you. it already was arguably...

Obviously people who are not vaccinated clearly need to get vaccinated now more than ever. >> well, lets talk about what the definition of fully vaccinated is. number one, should we expect that definition to change? i know thats not your decision. i assume thats a cdc decision. but let me ask you this, if youre advising a private company that does have a vaccine mandate -- or a vaccine requirement, would you tell them that they should make boosters part of the requirement? >> you know, i would t...

Omicron. it really needs to get boosted. >> im curious. is there a lot to learn from all the professional sports leagues about two issues, one, the issue of boosters, and, two, the issue of the j&j vaccine? because i know now were not really recommending it. it seems the j&j vaccine was very popular with athletes. i know they get tested more than most of the rest of the population. is that why its been so many breakthrough cases? >> you know, that is possible. there is no doubt now as we get mor...

But we were well prepared and expected that we were going to see variants, theres no doubt about that, but i believe that the vice president was referring to the fact that if you look at the number of mutations in omicron, its unprecedented. there are about 50 of them, 30 of them in the spike protein and about 10 to 12 of them in the receptor binding domain. weve never seen anything like that before. so in that context she was correct. >> all right. dr. anthony fauci, ill admit i have like 17,00...

Pricey. if theyre considered something that essential, should they be priced as high as they are, and weve seen a few public places to get tested. do you need more resources on that? whats the situation in colorado? >> weve made free at-home testing available to every coloradoan for months now. weve sent out 1.2 million right to your doorstep. you get the free test. its a popular program. were certainly planning on continuing it for the time being. its also important to note that while the north...

Could, but she -- shes definitely a big influence there. >> reporter: and inspired your love of them. >> uh-huh. she -- she definitely did, but -- so i -- i have her to thank for what im going down this sunday, the new covid surge. >> i think were looking at a rate of cases thats so large that we still overwhelm our hospitals. >> the omicron variant exploding across the globe -- >> what were seeing in some of these other countries is doubling times of about every two days or so. >> -- and acro...

Thrive. >> interesting you bring up the inflation issue. it feels like the rise of omicron is only going to set us back on that since the supply chain seems to be the biggest impediment when it comes to the inflation issue. youve talked about some things youve done. is there anything outside what the federal reserve does that can impact inflation in your mind? >> you know what public policymakers can do, governors, legislators, president, congress? we can save people money. if you save people mo...