We begin tonight with the rise in Omicron cases causing a travel nightmare for holiday travelers. Airlines have canceled more than a thousand flights here in the U.S. and over three thousand worldwide because of employees are getting infected by the virus. In the last week, the number of average daily cases is up forty-five percent, that surge is attributed to the fast-spreading Omicron variant. There is one bit of good news, hospitalizations remain flat, hovering around sixty thousand patients, suggesting that Omicron infections had been less severe than the deadly delta strain. Despite the Covid surge, President B and the First Lady tried to bring some Christmas Eve cheer to kids at the Children National Hospital here in the nation’s capital. The first couple spoke with children and their families and answer calls to NORAD’s Santa tracking service.

The last-minute cancellations of flights are adding disappointment on top of concerns over surging Covid cases, most of those cancellations are coming from Delta as well as United, which scratched ten percent of its flights. And the frustrations do not end today, hundreds of more flights have already been cancelled tomorrow. For many travelers, it’s the nightmare before Christmas. United and Delta, putting the blame on Omicron infections grabbing flight crews and operation staff. Earlier this week, Delta warned a possible staff shortage as the company requested a shorten isolation times, for vaccinated workers who tested positive. Late Thursday as some hospitals encounter staffing issues, the CDC shorten the recommendation time for infected health care workers from ten days to seven, as long as they do not show symptoms and test negative. In hard hit New York, the governor announced new standards today, fully vaccinated, asymptomatic essential workers can return five days after testing positive instead of ten. New York reported nearly forty-five thousand new cases today, a fourteen percent jump from the day before, breaking records in for seventh time in just a week. In Los Angeles, daily cases have tripled in just three days, nearly ten thousand. It’s not just the Omicron’s impact, but the cumulative toll on health care workers. And tonight, the White House will lift the temporary ban from eight south African countries in new years day.