We begin tonight with this year’s holiday season looks like a disappointing repeat of last year, all thanks to the Omicron variant. Case numbers are racking up. More people are entering the hospital. Health care workers are overwhelmed. Average daily cases fueled by the highly transmissible variant have now exceeded the Delta peak in the summer. Meanwhile, Americans are shattering records at pop-up testing sites with long lines stretching up blocks from New York to Los Angeles. And if you’re looking for an at-home Covid test, it’s going to be tough. Demand is so high that more retailers including CVS and Walgreens are limiting the numbers of kits customers can buy.

Omicron is spreading so quickly in New York right now. Daily infections are up thirty-four percent in just one day. And nearly forty thousand cases are the highest one-day total since the pandemic started. In the last-minute scramble to get home safely for the holidays, the most popular gift, maybe the toughest to find. Hundreds of people waited today at this site in New York City for test-kits to take home. It’s not just getting a test; labs are overwhelmed and frustration is growing. This is as new Covid cases keep exploding, more than doubling in six states, and more than quadrupling in Florida, Hawaii and Washington D.C. just in the past week. According to one projection from researchers at the University of Washington, nearly three million Americans could be infected each day by the end of January. The model estimates total infections beyond the number confirmed from tests. At some of the nation top universities, fears of large Covid outbreaks are causing many to start a new year remote only, at least for a couple of weeks. There’s also some positive news, a second at-home Covid treatment was approved today. The FDA authorizing Merck’s antiviral pills for high-risks adults. The drug is less effective than Pfizer’s, but the FDA believes both will work against Omicron. CBS is also learning the iconic New Year Eve celebration in Times Square will be scale back. Only a quarter of the usual number of people will be allowed to attend, and everyone has to be vaccinated and wear a mask.