it down. the prime minister now says he -- the president now says he believes the new normal will not last forever, but that covid in our environment is, quote, here to stay. biden is also responding to an underperforming december jobs report. we have fox team coverage tonight. alexandria hoff has more on the vaccine mandates. first, though, to lucas tomlinson live at the white house. >> reporter: some medical experts think the silver lining with this new variant is an immunity boost. president biden insists things are going to get better despite a record number of cases nationwide nearly two years into this pandemic. >> no, i don't think covid is here to stay. but having covid in the environment here and in the world is probably here to stay. covid as we're dealing with it now is not here to stay. the new normal doesn't have to be. we have so many more tools we're adopting and continuing to develop that'll contain covid and other strains of covid.