New variant of COVID-19 I look at how the recently signed infrastructure Bill will build up the DMV I'm John doeman A fairfax county martial arts teacher charged with sexually assaulting a student I'm Michelle Morello One 31 With COVID cases in hospital admissions on the rise New York's governor Kathy hoko has declared a state of emergency in her state This allows for the ordering of more supplies and the increasing of hospital capacity to handle any surges The move comes as the Biden administration announces travel bans for 8 countries that have seen a new variant of COVID on Twitter local says while not detected so far in the state the new Oman variant is coming Meanwhile the UK plants new measures to combat the omicron COVID variant including PCR test for travelers and ramping up mask wearing Prime minister Boris Johnson said today it's necessary to take targeted and precautionary measures after two people tested positive with the new variant in England Because of this variant new restrictions are being slapped on travel from countries in Southern Africa The new variant now officially named omicron has the potential to be more resistant to the protection offered by vaccines However despite the shutdown of flights it has become evident that the variant is already spreading Cases have been reported in travelers in Belgium Israel and Hong Kong Omicron is a variant of concern because of its high number of mutations There's also evidence that it carries a higher degree of infection than the other variants That means people who contracted COVID-19 and recovered could be subject to catching it again It could take weeks to know with current vaccines are less effective against it I'm Karen Chammas With word of this new variant stock markets fell hard on Friday Will this uncertainty in the markets continue next week The honest answer is nobody knows You should never move money around based on this or that news headline unless you enjoy racking up taxable events Of course which lower your long-term returns That's analysis from Paul brandis a columnist for USA Today and financial columnist for Dow Jones market watch Just to head on TOP and update on sentencing for some.