People line up at a gas station in the Reseda section of Los Angeles on Sunday to get a sample for a rapid test.
Richard Vogel.
Thousands of people around the U.S. stood in line for tests and some hospitals and health care facilities started to face staffing shortages as the Pandemic wears on.
More than 1,400 flights were scrubbed worldwide as of Monday morning, after thousands of domestic and international flights were canceled over the Christmas weekend.
The cruise industry was affected by the omicron surge. CNN reported that at least four cruise liners were turned away from ports.
Three college football teams have decided not to play in the upcoming bowl games because of players testing positive for the virus.
The number of daily cases in the U.S. increased to 197,000 on Friday, a 65% increase over two weeks ago, and is close to the record of 251,000 new daily cases set in January.
The number of new COVID cases will continue to rise and that while the omicron variant doesn't appear to be as severe as earlier cases, "we don't want to get complacent" as the sheer number of new cases could outweigh the lower.
Fauci said that if you have a lot of people with less severity, it might make the positive effect of having less severity less noticeable. Those who are unvaccinated are the most vulnerable because of the effectiveness of the virus.
There were long lines at the COVID testing sites.
The rate of positive test results increased over the weekend in New York City, where new vaccine mandates go into effect on Monday. In Florida, which set a record for the number of cases for a second time this week, cars lined up hours before the test sites opened and at- home tests quickly ran out at distribution centers.
Hospitals across the county are reporting staffing shortages.
According to Forbes, more than 25% of hospitals in 13 states are experiencing critical shortages of medical staff.
