Good Friday afternoon. The CDC is out with new data showing how crucial boosters are in the battle against Omicron, a dangerous ice storm is blasting the Southeast, and we’re saying goodbye to both a beloved comedian and rock legend.
Here is what’s in our Nightly Rundown.
CDC: Boosters 90 percent effective at preventing Omicron hospitalization
One of those large-scale trials found boosters were 90 percent effective at preventing hospitalizations during a period in December and January when Omicron became the dominant variant in the United States.
Less than half of the American population that’s eligible for boosters has received one, according to CDC data.
Omicron “steep declines” in parts of the U.S., CDC says
Today marks exactly two years since the first case of Covid in the U.S. was confirmed on January 21, 2020, involving a patient in Washington state who had recently traveled to Wuhan, China.
Two years later, the U.S. is just beginning to beat back the biggest surge of the pandemic. The Omicron variant still accounts for an average of 744,616 cases in the U.S. a day, but that’s a 5-percent decline from the week before.
“We are starting to see steep declines in areas that were first peaking, so areas of the Northeast — New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut are really starting to come down,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at today’s White House Covid task force briefing.
“Overall, nationally the numbers are coming down, which I consider an optimistic trend,” Walensky said.
But she cautioned: “We still are at extraordinarily high levels of disease — even in areas where cases are starting to come down. Places that we’re still recommending public indoor masking.”
Ice storm slams Southeast as bitter cold grips millions
12 million people are under winter storm warnings today in the Southeast, as another powerful system sweeps through the region.
Parts of the Carolinas could get up to half an inch of ice, with the highest accumulations expected along the coast, making travel hazardous.
Elsewhere across the country, some 66 million people woke up with wind chills at or below zero. The coldest air was over the Upper Midwest and New England.
U.S. and Russia hold high-stakes talks amid Ukraine tensions
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov came face-to-face in Geneva for about 90 minutes, after weeks of escalating tensions.
Blinken indicated that President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin could meet to resolve the standoff.
“If it proves useful and productive for the two presidents to meet, to talk, to engage, to try to carry things forward, I think we’re fully prepared to do that,” Blinken said after the meeting.
Both diplomats said the conversation between the U.S. and Russia will continue in writing next week.
Russia has positioned as many as 100,000 troops along the border with Ukraine, but the Kremlin has repeatedly denied it’s planning to invade.
Biden warned on Thursday that Russia would “pay a heavy price” if it sends any troops into Ukraine.
Blinken warns Russians of ‘swift and severe response’ to aggression
Texas man charged with threatening Georgia election officials
The FBI has arrested a 54-year-old Texas man for allegedly threatening the lives of state election officials in Georgia.
Chad Christopher Stark was charged with communicating an interstate threat in a message posted on Craigslist a year ago.
The message said, “It’s time to invoke our Second Amendment right it’s time to put a bullet in the treasonous Chinese [official’s name]. Then we work our way down to [another official] the local and federal corrupt judges,” according to court documents.
The post also mentioned a third official, saying “we need to pay a visit” to her “and her family as well and put a bullet … behind the ears.”
This is the first case brought by the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, launched over the summer.
Stark was scheduled to appear in a federal court in Austin today.
What else we’re watching:
Three Pennsylvania police officers have been fired after they were charged in the shooting death of an 8-year-old girl outside a high school football game.
Louie Anderson, the stand-up comedian and Emmy-winning “Baskets” star, has died of complications from cancer at 68.
“Bat Out of Hell” rocker and actor Meat Loaf has died at the age of 74.
Meat Loaf dies aged 74, singer’s Facebook page says
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