Tornado recovery efforts, new COVID milestones, a big settlement for NASA's victims and

other top news for Wednesday to December 15th stay informed while remaining focused on

Christ with the poor over.

Here's the quote of the day, you are more sinful than you ever thought you were and you

are more loved than you ever dreamed you could be.

Tim Keller.

Let's get started with some espresso shots.

The US will cross two COVID milestones this week, 50 million cases and 800,000 deaths.

Now all eyes are on Omicron.

For preliminary data from South Africa and modeled data from the University of California,

both found vaccines to be 30% effective against infection and 70% effective in preventing

hospitalization due to the variant.

A silver lined note, Omicron, does seem to present with milder symptoms.

It's not a trendy new strain, but good old delta still accounts for 99% of US COVID cases.

However, Dr. Fauci stated with certainty that Omicron will gain ground and that the best

protection is three doses of either mRNA vaccine.

In related news, the Supreme Court upheld a New York City vaccine mandate for healthcare workers

and California reinstated indoor mask requirements for everyone, regardless of vaccination status.

Last week's December tornadoes were no less deadly than their season appropriate cousins.

The death toll continues to rise with Kentucky accounting for 74 out of the 88 total lives lost.

In yesterday's midday update, Kentucky governor Andy Bashir said that over 100 people

are still missing and that it was a quote miracle that only eight out of the 110 workers

...