to grow!

Covid-19 numbers keep soaring as Christmastime travelers scatter back across country and Americans prepare for another holiday weekend.

The US is now averaging 198,404 new Covid-19 cases each day, according to Sunday data from Johns Hopkins University. That's is 47% higher than a week ago and the highest such number since January 19.

 "I think we're going to see half a million cases a day -- easy -- sometime over the next week to 10 days," medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner said.

About 71,000 Americans were hospitalized with Covid-19 as of Sunday, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services.The best way to protect against severe illness is to get vaccinated and boosted, Dr.Fauci said. 

"Boosters are always good for any variant, but particularly for Omicron," he said. "If you are vaccinated and not yet boosted, and your time comes for getting boosted, please get boosted. It's going to make all the difference to prevent you from getting severe disease."