U.S. airlines canceled more than 1,300 flights on December 26 as COVID-19 thinned out the number of available crews, while several cruise ships had to cancel stops after outbreaks on board, upending the plans of thousands of Christmas travelers.

U.S. airlines canceled hundreds of flights on Christmas Eve amid a surge in COVID-19 infections driven by the Omicron variant, but millions of wary Americans carried on with travel plans through a second pandemic-clouded winter holiday.

United Airlines and Delta Air Lines canceled hundreds of Christmas Eve flights, as the spreading COVID-19 Omicron variant takes a toll on its flight crews and other workers.

Americans vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19 can be with family over the holidays but attending large gatherings is not safe, even for those who received a booster dose, top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said on December 22.

COVID-19 cases surged in New York City and across the United States over the December 17th-19th weekend, dashing hopes for a more normal holiday season, resurrecting restrictions and stretching the country’s testing infrastructure ahead of holiday travel and gatherings.

If you were given a $100 bill to make a difference in someone’s life, what would you do? That’s the question at the core of “#SpreadJoy,” the holiday video filmed by and starring hundreds of Klick Health employees bringing joy (and often tears) to unsuspecting people across the United States and Canada. After volunteering for the feel-good project, each received a $100 bill with a simple direction: use it to spread joy. 

Severe Covid-19 infections are beginning to abate in many parts of the United States even as the death toll mounts, signaling an end to the pandemic’s post-holiday surge and prompting some states to ease public health restrictions.

The U.S. coronavirus death toll topped 400,000 on Jan. 19, according to a Reuters tally, as the country hardest hit by the pandemic struggled to meet the demand for vaccines to stem the spread of infection.

The United States recorded more than 15,000 deaths from Covid-19 and over 1.2 million new cases for the week ended Dec. 27, though those numbers may be artificially low due to reporting gaps over the Christmas holiday.

Millions of Covid-19 vaccines were sitting unused in U.S. hospitals and elsewhere a week into the massive inoculation campaign, putting the government’s target for 20 million vaccinations during December in doubt.