OMICRON CRASHES CHRISTMAS — The spread of the Omicron variant threw many Americans' holiday travel plans into a tailspin this weekend as Covid-related staffing shortages led airlines to cancel hundreds of flights. — The AP reports that Delta, United and JetBlue cancelled more than 10 percent of their planned Christmas Day flights. — CNN reports that the TSA screened 1.7 million people on Christmas Eve — almost 1 million more than the same date last year, but about 800,000 fewer than in 2019, before the pandemic. Even so, a major holiday travel-related Covid surge is likely to be reflected in the coming weeks, further straining a health system that's already near its limits. Here's a glimpse of where things stand — and keep in mind this is before the data accounts for the holiday increase: ARKANSAS: "The number of cases in the state considered currently infectious topped 10,000 for the first time since Sept. 30," via the Democrat Gazette … CALIFORNIA: "Los Angeles County reported nearly 10,000 new coronavirus cases Friday. … In San Francisco, public health officials said the local case rate has tripled, which they called 'a clear indication that we have entered the fifth surge in the pandemic,'" reports the L.A. Times … DELAWARE "breaks the record of reported daily Covid-19 cases as surge continues," via The News Journal … FLORIDA "on Christmas Day saw its largest single-day increase of newly reported Covid cases since the pandemic began," reports the Miami Herald … MISSOURI: "With 1,600 Covid cases, KC metro sees one of the biggest daily jumps since pandemic began," Kansas City Star … NEW JERSEY "sets COVID record for third straight day," via Bergen County's Record … OHIO: "Last Christmas, more than 3,200 Ohioans reported new Covid cases. This Christmas Eve, there were more than 14,000," via WKYC "In Cleveland, the Covid picture is one of the bleakest in the country," report NYT's Jack Healy, Noah Weiland and Richard Fausset . "Intensive care units are crammed with patients with the Delta variant, with a surge of new Omicron infections looming. New infections in Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, have grown by 234 percent in the past two weeks." Even so, the unvaccinated are digging in: "Now, health experts say the roughly 15 percent of the adult population that remains stubbornly unvaccinated is at the greatest risk of severe illness and death from the Omicron variant, and could overwhelm hospitals that are already brimming with Covid patients." One tactic HHS is trying: "New ads this week targeting rural, younger Americans featured the language: 'When you're done with Covid, it doesn't mean it's done with you.' Other ads targeting rural adults warned of the financial costs of contracting the virus." MEANWHILE, the fight for the hearts and minds of the unvaccinated is pitting right-wing podcast host CANDACE OWENS against former President DONALD TRUMP, who took a decidedly pro-vaccination stance in an interview with her that raised eyebrows this week. Now, Owens says Trump is embracing the vaccine because he relies too heavily on the mainstream media for his information. Owens, who has called the vaccine "pure evil" and has said she'd "never" take it, said Trump "came from a time before T.V., before Internet, before [people were] able to conduct their own independent research, everything they believed was in a newspaper." One thought: Could Trump's embrace of the vaccines ultimately be the thing that causes the MAGA-adjacent right to sour on the former president? Good Sunday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza, Tara Palmeri. SUNDAY BEST … — Rep. FRED UPTON (R-Michigan) on CNN's "State of the Union," on the work environment in Congress: "It's pretty toxic. There is no question about it. … We get really nasty threats at home. The tone gets tougher and tougher. It is a pretty toxic place. I've never seen anything like this before." — NIAID director ANTHONY FAUCI on ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos," on the coronavirus testing shortage: "The production of them has been rapidly upscaled … 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. I think things will improve greatly as we get into January, but that doesn't help us today and tomorrow." More from David Cohen — Surgeon General VIVEK MURTHY on CNN's "State of the Union," regarding the surge of Covid cases and Americans feeling pessimistic: "[W]e now know more about how to stay safe than we've ever known. If you're vaccinated and boosted, your risk of having a bad outcome with Covid-19 is much, much lower and we will get to the end of this pandemic. It's gone through twists and turns. But we will get there and we will get there together." | 
