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What the CDC’s latest COVID-19 quarantine recommendations mean for you

December 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Amidst growing pressure as COVID-19 cases surge across the country, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has now announced that it will shorten the recommended isolation time for asymptomatic people who test positive for COVID-19, and update guidance for people who have been exposed to the virus.

“The Omicron variant is spreading quickly and has the potential to impact all facets of our society. CDC’s updated recommendations for isolation and quarantine balance what we know about the spread of the virus and the protection provided by vaccination and booster doses,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement on Monday.

The change in guidance is based on data which shows that “the majority of COVID-19 transmission occurs early in the course of illness, generally in the 1-2 days prior to onset of symptoms and the 2-3 days after,” according to the CDC.

Guidance for asymptomatic individuals differs greatly depending on one’s vaccination status.

Here’s what you need to know:

Anyone COVID-19 positive should quarantine for at least five days

Anyone, regardless of vaccination status, who tests positive for COVID-19 and is asymptomatic, should isolate themselves for at least five days, the CDC said.

If you continue to have no symptoms after five days, the CDC states that you may leave isolation if you “continue to mask for five days to minimize the risk of infecting others.”

However, if symptoms, such as a fever, are present, you should continue to stay home until your fever, or the other symptoms, resolve. If your symptoms resolve after five days, and you are without fever for 24 hours, the CDC said you are free to leave your house with a mask on.

According to the CDC, an isolation period of five days, followed by wearing a well-fitting mask around others, will minimize the risk of spreading the virus to others.

What to do if you are exposed to COVID-19, and unvaccinated or not boosted

If you are exposed and unvaccinated, or not fully vaccinated, the CDC now recommends that you quarantine for five days, followed by “strict mask use” for five days after your quarantine. This guidance also applies to people who are more than six months out from their second mRNA dose of the vaccine — or more than two months out from their Johnson & Johnson Vaccine — but not yet been boosted.

However, if a five-day quarantine is not feasible, the CDC said it is “imperative” that an exposed person wear a well-fitting mask at all times and when around others, for 10 days after exposure.

Fully vaccinated, but still not eligible for a booster

If you were fully vaccinated with either the Pfizer or the Moderna vaccine within the last six months, or you completed the primary series of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine within the last two months, the CDC said you do not need to be quarantined after an exposure; however, you should still wear a mask for 10 days, following the exposure.

No need to quarantine if you are boosted and asymptomatic

If you have received your booster shot, you do not need to quarantine after an exposure, but should wear a mask for 10 days following the exposure.

If symptoms do occur, the CDC stressed that you should immediately quarantine, until a negative test confirms that the symptoms are not due to COVID-19.

All individuals who have been exposed are recommended to get a COVID-19 test around five days after exposure.

The CDC pointed people to preliminary data from South Africa and the United Kingdom, which demonstrates that vaccine effectiveness against infection for two doses of an mRNA vaccine is approximately 35%, while a COVID-19 vaccine booster dose restored vaccine effectiveness against infection to 75%.

“These updates ensure people can safely continue their daily lives. Prevention is our best option: Get vaccinated, get boosted, wear a mask in public indoor settings in areas of substantial and high community transmission and take a test before you gather,” Walensky said.

COVID-19 live updates: CDC shortens recommended isolation period for some patients

December 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.4 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 816,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

About 61.7% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Latest headlines:
-Biden says ‘we have to do better’ on COVID testing shortages
-Fauci says vaccine requirement for US flights should be ‘considered’
-NYC administers 180,000 booster shots in less than a week
-4 cruise ships report COVID outbreaks
-Surge in omicron cases will ‘get worse,’ Fauci says

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.

Dec 27, 4:37 pm
CDC shortens recommended isolation time for some infected patients

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Monday afternoon it will shorten the recommended isolation time for some people infected with COVID-19.

Patients who are asymptomatic will have to isolate for five days, followed by five days of wearing a mask around others, under the new guidance. Previously, the isolation period was 10 days for everyone.

Individuals who have received their booster shot do not need to quarantine following an exposure, but should wear a mask for 10 days after the exposure, the CDC said.

Dec 27, 4:37 pm
Much of Texas runs out of monoclonal antibody treatment

The Texas Department of State Health Services announced Monday that centers in Austin, El Paso, Fort Worth, San Antonio and The Woodlands ran out of sotrovimab, the monoclonal antibody effective against the COVID-19 omicron variant.

The federal government won’t be able to ship more supplies of the treatment until January, the department said.

Those centers will still be able to provide monoclonal treatment for any patient who hasn’t contracted the omicron variant, according to the department.

Dec 27, 2:30 pm
France to require employees to work from home 3 days a week

French Prime Minister Jean Castex and Health Minister Olivier Véran announced a host of new measures Monday to combat the rising COVID-19 cases.

The country has recorded 30,383 cases in the last 24 hours, according to officials.

Starting Jan. 3, all companies will be required to have their employees work from home at least three days a week, when possible.

France will also limit large indoor gatherings 2,000 people and outdoor gatherings to 5,000.

Officials also announced a ban on eating and drinking in movie theaters and on public transportation. The new measures will be in effect for at least three weeks, officials said.

ABC News’ Ibtissem Guenfoud

Dec 27, 1:40 pm
Pediatric hospitalizations in US rising to highest levels since fall

Pediatric hospitalizations for COVID-19 in the U.S. are surging to their highest levels since early September.

Across the country, almost 2,000 children are hospitalized with confirmed or suspected cases of the virus, according to federal data.

This is a roughly 60% from one month ago.

On average, about 260 children are being admitted to the hospital each day.

On a state level, more children are hospitalized with COVID-19 in New York than in any other state in the U.S.

ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Search for man who went missing at California ski resort continues amid avalanche warning

December 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(LOS ANGELES) — Search and rescue crews are battling severe weather as they are hunting for a man last seen on Christmas Day at a California ski resort, according to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office.

Rory Angelotta, 43, was reported missing to police around 10 p.m. on Dec. 25 after he failed to show up for Christmas dinner with friends, authorities said.

Police said Angelotta’s ski pass was last scanned at 11:30 a.m. that day at the Northstar Ski Resort in Truckee. An emergency ping from his cell phone was sent just five minutes before his pass was scanned, which showed him making a short call from the area before being turned off. His vehicle was also discovered by police parked in the Northstar parking lot, officials said.

Severe weather has hampered search and rescue efforts, according to the sheriff’s office. After being suspended Sunday night due to weather, the search continued Monday amid whiteout conditions.

To make matters more challenging, heavy snow has the area under an avalanche warning, according to the U.S. Forest Service Sierra Avalanche Center, which officials said has limited the search to established areas of the resort and along the edges.

“The hope is that if the weather clears up today, searchers will be able to get to more of the remote areas he may have gone,” Mike Powers, a public information officer with the sheriff’s office, told ABC News.

The Avalanche Center said “large natural avalanches and human-triggered avalanches are expected” through Tuesday morning in the mountains.

Angelotta moved to the Truckee area from Colorado in October, according to the sheriff’s office, and was the general manager of the Surefoot ski shop at the Northstar Ski Resort. A post from Surefoot’s Instagram account described Angelotta as an “experienced backcountry skier.”

“We are hopeful that he has been able to hunker down and stay warm,” the shop wrote.

Northstar tweeted Monday that its mountains would be closed for the second day in a row, citing blizzard conditions and “a large overnight snowfall.”

California has seen an abundance of snow this month, with the U.C. Berkley Sierra Snow Lab reporting a record-breaking 193.7 inches in December on Monday, smashing the previous record of 179 inches set in 1970.

The lab reported heavy snow continuing into Monday. It’s possible that measurements could surpass 200 inches for the month by the end of the day.

The Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue, Nevada County Search and Rescue and Northstar Ski Patrol are working with the sheriff’s office to find Angelotta.

Anyone that has seen or spoken with Angelotta since Christmas Day can contact the Placer County Sheriff’s Office at 530-886-5375. Police said he was believed to be wearing a navy blue Fly Low jacket, blue helmet and black goggles.

Santa Monica offering families displaced by historical construction projects priority in affordable housing

December 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The city of Santa Monica, California, will start offering priority placement for its coveted affordable housing program to families and their descendants who were displaced by urban renewal projects in the 1950s and 60s.

The new effort aims to repair some of the historical actions that predominantly hurt Black and brown communities, as aggressive construction projects and highway-building some 70 years ago resulted in hundreds of families being evicted from their homes in the southern California coastal city.

“The city of Santa Monica is eager to share the new affordable housing priority for historically displaced households with families who were displaced from Santa Monica in the 1950s,” Constance Farrell, the public information officer for the city of Santa Monica, told ABC News on Monday.

“We encourage our former residents and their descendants to learn more about the program and we look forward to working with you to access this new opportunity,” Farrell said.

The pilot program will provide priority in city-funded and inclusionary housing for up to 100 applicants from households (including their children or grandchildren) that were displaced by the development of the Civic Auditorium in the Belmar Triangle neighborhood or the construction of the I-10 Highway in the Pico neighborhood. Inclusionary housing refers to residential developments in which rents are capped at affordable levels for income-qualifying households, according to the city’s website.

Farrell said applications will open on Jan. 18, 2022, and further information on the application process can be found at the city’s website.

About 600 predominantly Black families in Santa Monica’s Pico neighborhood lost their homes due to freeway construction, The Los Angeles Times reported. Among them were the grandparents of Nichelle Monroe, who told the Los Angeles Times that the impact of this displacement is still painful and palpable for her family today.

“If you had something and you lost it due to eminent domain, due to racism, you’re thinking about it and it affects your every move thereafter,” Monroe told the local newspaper. “It’s almost like PTSD. It affects how you think of yourself in society, what you believe is possible in that society.”

City officials, meanwhile, told the outlet that they hope the program can be a model for the nation and that they hope other communities will follow suit.

The police-murder of George Floyd in 2020 has been linked to a national reckoning on the lingering impacts of decades of racially unjust policies in the U.S. — from Jim Crow laws to redlining — and how policymakers and beyond can offer repair for the historical wrongdoings.

In a high-profile case earlier this year, Los Angeles officials voted to return a stretch of beachfront land that was seized by the city from a Black family 97 years ago, to their descendants.

Prosecutor seeks reduced sentence for truck driver who got 110 years for fatal crash

December 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Prosecutors filed a motion earlier this month asking for a reduced sentence for Rogel Aguilera Mederos, the truck driver who was sentenced to 110 years in prison for a 2019 fatal crash on I-70, outside Denver, that killed four people and injured several others.

In a hearing on Monday morning, District Attorney Alexis King asked the court to reconsider Mederos’ original sentence and suggested a range of 20-30 years behind bars instead. The judge scheduled a hearing on Jan. 13, 2022 and requested more information from prosecutors and the defense, asking them to file additional memos by Jan. 10.

“You know this is an exceptional case and requires an exceptional process,” King said in brief remarks to the media following the hearing on Monday afternoon. “In finding its verdict, the jury recognized the extreme nature of the defendant’s conduct, which warrants a prison sentence. The defendant caused the death of four people, serious bodily injury to two others and the impact of his truck caused damage to many more in our community.”

Judge A. Bruce Jones, who was the judge in this case, questioned during the hearing whether he has jurisdiction to act based on the DA’s motion and said that if Mederos appeals or requests a new sentence through a separate motion, he may no longer have jurisdiction over this case.

Jones also questioned how re-sentencing could impact Mederos’ ability to file an appeal or his right to request a re-sentencing through what is known as Rule 35b. Following input from Mederos’ attorneys, who spoke during the hearing, Jones asked that the next hearing take place before Mederos’ time to appeal runs out.

The motion to reconsider the sentence comes after the case garnered national attention. A Change.org petition advocated for a commutation for Mederos, saying the crash was “not intentional.” Nearly 5 million people have signed the online petition.

Mederos’ attorney, James Colgan, told ABC News in a phone interview Monday that efforts to reconsider the sentence are “disingenuous.”

“I find it interesting that two weeks ago they were fine with 110 years and only now that public outcry has blown in their face do they not want 110 years,” Colgan said. “It’s just politics.”

Mederos was charged with 42 counts — the most serious of which was first-degree assault, a class-three felony, and was found guilty by a Jefferson County jury of 27 counts.

Police said Mederos was driving at least 85 mph before the crash on a stretch of the highway with a 45 mph speed limit for commercial vehicles.

After his brakes failed, Mederos drove past a runaway truck ramp and crashed into stopped traffic, police said.
Crash victims speak out amid push for governor to commute truck driver’s 110-year sentence

A runaway truck ramp is essentially an escape lane or exit that allows a vehicle that is experiencing brake problems to stop safely.

Prosecutors argued that after the brakes failed, Mederos intentionally passed the ramp — one of the reasons that some crash victims and families of those who died argued Mederos should serve time in prison.

Colgan told ABC News that Mederos’ defense team “never agreed with prosecutors that he intentionally avoided the ramp” during the trial.

“By the time he realized it was there, he was past it,” Colgan said, adding that Mederos was “under a lot of stress” as he attempted to get his truck into gear to attempt to brake.

Mederos, who was not intoxicated at the time, testified that after his brakes failed, he crashed into vehicles that had stopped on the highway due to backed up traffic.

Prosecutors sought the minimum penalties for each of the charges — the highest of which is 10 years, but the number of the charges and a law that says that some have to be served consecutively resulted in the lengthy sentence.

Jones, who was the judge in the case, said that he would not have chosen the lengthy sentence if he had the discretion.

The deadline for Mederos and his legal team to appeal is 49 days following sentencing, which would be Jan. 31, 2022. Mederos also has up to a year from the Dec. 13 sentencing to file a motion under Rule 35b for the judge to reconsider his sentence.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is considering an application of clemency for Mederos that asks for a commutation.

ABC News’ Michelle Mendez contributed to this report.

More than 2,700 flights canceled since Christmas Eve

December 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The end of the holiday weekend continued to be anything but merry for thousands of air travelers across the country.

There have been more than 2,000 flight cancellations since Christmas Eve as the recent COVID-19 surge has resulted in crew shortages and disrupted several airlines.

This came on the day after Christmas, which had been forecasted to be the third busiest air travel day for return flights.

As of 4:30 p. m. Sunday, 1,016 flights were canceled, according to FlightAware.

On Christmas Day, 997 flights were canceled and another 689 flights were canceled on Christmas Eve, FlightAware data showed.

There are already cancellations for the start of the week. FlightAware has noted 114 cancellations for Monday, with United Airlines reporting 49 cancellations.

Delta and JetBlue have called on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to shorten the quarantine period for vaccinated individuals to five days, to ease the crew shortage.

Passengers are urged to check with their airlines and airports for up-to-date information on their flights.

Despite the disruptions, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration said it screened 1,533,398 people at airport checkpoints nationwide on Christmas. This is the lowest number of travelers we’ve seen since Dec. 14.

The agency said between Dec. 20 and Dec. 25 it screened over 11,589,000 passengers. It expects 30 million people to take to the skies between Dec. 20 and New Year’s Day.

UK tabloid acknowledges legal loss to Duchess Meghan with front-page statement

December 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — After a failed appeal earlier this month, Britain’s The Mail on Sunday included a front-page notice on Dec. 26 to readers that it lost the legal battle over publishing parts of a handwritten letter Megan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, wrote in 2018 to her now-estranged father, Thomas Markle, in 2019.

“The Duchess of Sussex wins her legal case for copyright infringement against Associated Newspapers for articles published in The Mail on Sunday and posted on Mail Online – SEE PAGE 3,” read a line at the bottom of the front page of the newspaper.

At the top of the third page was a short piece giving more details regarding the duchess’ lawsuit with the tabloid.

“Following a hearing on 19-20 January, 2021, and a further hearing on 5 May, 2021, the Court has given judgment for the Duchess of Sussex on her claim for copyright infringement,” it read. “The Court found that Associated Newspapers infringed her copyright by publishing extracts of her handwritten letter to her father in The Mail on Sunday and on Mail Online.”

An additional line indicated this was just one part of the agreement handed down by the court in February and upheld in May. “Financial remedies have been agreed.”

The statement was also published on Mail Online the same day, with links to the court rulings included.

“This is a victory not just for me, but for anyone who has ever felt scared to stand up for what’s right,” Meghan said in a statement after the latest appeal. “While this win is precedent setting, what matters most is that we are now collectively brave enough to reshape a tabloid industry that conditions people to be cruel, and profits from the lies and pain that they create.”

Meghan now lives in California with her husband, Prince Harry, and their two children, son Archie and daughter Lilibet.

COVID-19 live updates: US pediatric hospitalizations reach highest level since fall

December 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

About 61.7% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.

Dec 27, 2:30 pm
France to require employees to work from home 3 days a week

French Prime Minister Jean Castex and Health Minister Olivier Véran announced a host of new measures Monday to combat the rising COVID-19 cases.

The country has recorded 30,383 cases in the last 24 hours, according to officials.

Starting Jan. 3, all companies will be required to have their employees work from home at least three days a week, when possible.

France will also limit large indoor gatherings 2,000 people and outdoor gatherings to 5,000.

Officials also announced a ban on eating and drinking in movie theaters and on public transportation. The new measures will be in effect for at least three weeks, officials said.

ABC News’ Ibtissem Guenfoud

Dec 27, 1:40 pm
Pediatric hospitalizations in US rising to highest levels since fall

Pediatric hospitalizations for COVID-19 in the U.S. are surging to their highest levels since early September.

Across the country, almost 2,000 children are hospitalized with confirmed or suspected cases of the virus, according to federal data.

This is a roughly 60% from one month ago.

On average, about 260 children are being admitted to the hospital each day.

On a state level, more children are hospitalized with COVID-19 in New York than in any other state in the U.S.

ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Dec 27, 12:56 pm
Biden says ‘we have to do better’ on COVID testing shortages

President Joe Biden said his administration has “to do better” to meet COVID-19 testing demands.

During the White House COVID-19 Response Team’s call with the National Governors Association Monday, the president directly addressed the shortages of kits being reported across the nation.

He said the steps the government had taken so far to make more COVID tests available is “not enough.”

“If I had known, we would have gone harder, quicker if we could have,” Biden said on the call.

He went on, “Seeing how tough it was for some folks to get a test this weekend shows we have more work to do and we’re doing it. We have to do more, we have to do better, and we will.”

Dec 27, 11:42 am
Fauci says vaccine requirement for US flights should be ‘considered’

Dr. Anthony Fauci said a COVID vaccine requirement for domestic air travel should be “seriously” considered.

“If you’re talking about requiring vaccination to get on a plane domestically, that is just another one of the requirements that I think is reasonable to consider,” he said Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“When you make vaccination a requirement, that’s another incentive to get more people vaccinated. If you want to do that with domestic flights, I think that’s something that seriously should be considered,” he said.

This is not the first time that Fauci has argued for vaccine mandates domestic flights.

On Sunday, Fauci told ABC’s Jon Karl that “anything that could get people more vaccinated would be welcome.”

ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Reward increases to $150,000 for missing 3-year-old Lina Sadar Khil in Texas

December 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Reward increases to 0,000 for missing 3-year-old Lina Sadar Khil in Texas

(NEW YORK) — More than $150,000 has been raised to help find a missing 3-year-old girl in San Antonio, Texas, who local officials say may be in “grave, immediate danger.”

Lina Sadar Khil was last seen on Monday, Dec. 20 between 4 and 5 p.m. at a park on the 9400 block of Fredericksburg Road in San Antonio, according to police. She was reported by her family as missing when she disappeared from a park near their home.

The Islamic Center of San Antonio is offering a $100,000 reward, and the Crime Stoppers of San Antonio has offered $50,000 for information resulting in the arrest or indictment of a suspect accused of any involvement in the disappearance of Lina.

The FBI has joined the San Antonio Police Department in the search for the young girl. They are accepting any tips, video footage or insight concerning her potential whereabouts.

A vigil was held for Lina on Dec. 24 at the St. Francis Episcopal Church, where SAPD Chief William McManus asked attendees for help in their search.

“We need your assistance, you know anything, even if you think it may not help. We want you to call us and give you any give us any information that you may have,” McManus said.

There have not been any substantial updates in the case, according to SAPD.

On Facebook, the department stated, “We continue to deploy an all hands on deck approach to ensure no evidence, witness statement or clues are left undiscovered.”

Lina is white, about 4-feet tall, and weighs 55 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes. Police said Lina has straight, shoulder-length hair and was last seen wearing it in a ponytail with a black jacket, red dress and black shoes.

“Unfortunately, I have to say that the longer the time lapses, the less hopeful we become,” McManus said in a Dec. 22 press conference.

Authorities are asking anyone who has information on the case to call SAPD Missing Person’s Unit at 210-207-7660.

Fauci warns omicron cases ‘likely will go much higher’

December 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — As the “extraordinarily contagious” omicron variant surges across the United States, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that COVID-19 cases will likely continue to climb.

“Every day it goes up and up. The last weekly average was about 150,000 and it likely will go much higher,” Fauci told ABC This Week co-anchor Jonathan Karl.

While Fauci said studies show omicron is less severe in terms of hospitalizations, he stressed, “we don’t want to get complacent” because “when you have such a high volume of new infections, it might override a real diminution in severity.”

“If you have many, many, many more people with a less level of severity, that might kind of neutralize the positive effect of having less severity when you have so many more people,” he explained. “And we’re particularly worried about those who are in that unvaccinated class … those are the most vulnerable ones when you have a virus that is extraordinarily effective in getting to people.”

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden announced a plan to distribute 500 million free at-home rapid tests to Americans beginning in January. The tests will be delivered by mail to Americans who request them. A website to request the tests will launch in January, according to the administration.

But the omicron surge created a massive rush for tests as Americans prepared to see relatives for the holidays, and they instead faced empty pharmacy shelves and massive test lines.

On Wednesday, ABC News’ World News Tonight anchor David Muir, asked Biden if that was a failure.

“I don’t think it’s a failure,” Biden replied in the exclusive interview. “I think it’s — you could argue that we should have known a year ago, six months ago, two months ago, a month ago.”

“I wish I had thought about ordering” 500 million at-home tests “two months ago,” he told Muir.

Biden added “nothing’s been good enough” when it comes to the availability of at-home tests.

When Karl asked about the comments, Fauci admitted to This Week he is frustrated with at-home test availability and said “we’ve obviously got to do better.”

“The beginning of the year, there were essentially no rapid point of care home tests available. Now, there are over nine of them and more coming,” Fauci said. “The production of them has been rapidly upscaled, and yet because of the demand that we have, which in some respects, Jon, is good, that we have a high demand because we should be using testing much more extensively than we have.”

“But the situation where you have such a high demand, a conflation of events, omicron stirring people to get appropriately concerned and wanting to get tested as well as the fact of the run on tests during the holiday season — we’ve obviously got to do better,” he continued. “I think things will improve greatly as we get into January. But that doesn’t help us today and tomorrow.”

Karl also asked about the FDA last week granting emergency authorization to both Pfizer and Merck’s antiviral pills to treat COVID-19.

“Is this really the breakthrough that you’ve been waiting for?” Karl questioned.

“That’s part of the comprehensive approach to this outbreak. Vaccines and boosters, masks and now very importantly, a highly effective therapy is really going to make a major, major difference,” Fauci replied. “We’ve just got to make sure that there’s the production of enough of that product that we can get it widely used for those who need it as quickly as possible.”

“I assume that will be a top priority going forward, right? I mean, possibly including Defense [Production] Act … and the like?” Karl pressed.

“Absolutely, Jon, absolutely,” Fauci said. “We’ve got to get that product into the mouths of those who need it.”

Only 61.7% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to CDC data. Many Americans remain against COVID-19 vaccines over one year into their use.

The omicron surge doesn’t appear to sway unvaccinated Americans. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll this week, just 12% percent of unvaccinated Americans polled said the variant makes them more likely to get a vaccine.

Former President Donald Trump showed his support for vaccinations, who has spread conspiracy theories about vaccines and didn’t get vaccinated publicly, showed his support for COVID-19 vaccines in a Wednesday interview with The Daily Wire’s Candace Owens, saying, “The results of the vaccine are very good. … People aren’t dying when they take the vaccine.”

Karl asked Fauci whether Trump’s supporters might listen to that message.

“I think that his continuing to say that people should get vaccinated and articulating that to them, in my mind is a good thing. I hope he keeps it up,” Fauci responded.

Fauci also said he was surprised when Trump was booed by some of his supporters in Texas last weekend after the former president revealed he’d gotten his booster shot.

“I was stunned by that,” Fauci said. “I mean, given the fact of how popular he is with that group, that they would boo him, which tells me how recalcitrant they are about being told what they should do.”

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