We’re going to begin with a monster winter storm that’s expected to be the biggest of season, and it’s already causing dangerous travel condition in the mid-west. The national weather service warned part of the country could see fourteen to twenty hours continuous snowfall. Areas across the Dakotas, Minnesota and Iowa are expected to get as much as ten inches before it’s over. Meanwhile states across the south have already begun preparation for this storm, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia declaring state’s emergency. Tonight, more than a third of states are under winter storm watches or warning through Sunday afternoon. Places as far south as Atlanta which hasn’t seen snow in four years could get up to an inch.

The snow has really picked up here in western Illinois, the first punch of massive winter storm. Already today, snow fell at a rate of more than an inch per hour, creating near white out conditions, turning driving hazardous. As winter storm approaching the east coast, shoppers from Georgia to Maryland were already stocking up. Up to a half foot of snow is expected to hit here before morning, and it’s storm that airlines are watching closely, they’ve already began waving fees for people who decides to change their plans and not travel this holiday weekend.

Turning to the Covid, the CDC is updating its mask guidance, it comes as surge of Omicron may be close to its peak, while hospitalizations are still hitting a record high. As Omicron continues to surge nationwide, pediatric hospitalizations are soaring more than three hundred and sixty percent. A mix of children admitted for Covid and some tested positive after being admitted. Only thirty five percent of children, aged five to seventeen are fully vaccinated. Now New Orleans is among the first districts in the nation to require proof of vaccination for eligible students as young as five years old by the beginning of February. The parents can opt their children out.

:::tip rekindle

• : to start or stir up (something) again. 重新燃起

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