radio city music hall canceled friday's shows of the christmas stoke tack lars citing breakthrough cases. store shelves for rapid tests sit empty, all echos of the past people waiting here for more than an hour to be tested as omicron reveals its rapid test. this is after coming here yesterday twice and not being -- >> this is a whole new animal. we have to be honest about the fact it's moving fast. >> reporter: the new york mar yor considers scaling back the times square celebration. a visible return of sports restrictions. the nfl and nba increasing covid protocols. this is all in response to deaths increasing in nearly half of u.s. states, up sharply in seven. that's an increase of 8% from just last week.