Thanks to the Omicron variant, the still lingering Delta, holiday travel and families gathering for Christmas, COVID-19 is raging in the United States and in many European countries.

On Dec. 29, the U.S. reported a daily average of approximately 265,000 new cases in the previous week, doubling in just two weeks and wiping out the previous mark of 250,000, set in mid-January 2021. Meanwhile, France reported 208,000 new cases on Dec.