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Today’s Top Stories from NBC News WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2021 Good morning, NBC News readers.
Pfizer just announced positive news about its booster and the omicron variant. But while the world has been focused on the new variant, an NBC News analysis of recent data shows its still the toxic combination of the delta variant and the unvaccinated driving the surge of Covid hospitalizations in the U.S.
Here's what we're watching this Wednesday morning. 
Covid-19 hospitalizations are once again rising in the United States — and it's not omicron driving the surge, but rather the highly contagious delta variant.
Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York and Illinois accounted for the majority of the increase in patients hospitalized with Covid, according to an NBC News analysis of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data.
While all eyes have been on the new omicron variant, delta is still a threat, as "over 99 percent of sequenced cases in the United States continue to be from" that strain, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Tuesday at a White House Covid-19 Response Team briefing.
And it's mostly the unvaccinated who are filling up the hospital beds.
In Michigan, which has the highest share of new hospitalizations, unvaccinated people make up 87 percent of Covid patients who are in an intensive care unit in the state, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
The seemingly never-ending pandemic is taking its toll on hospital staff.
"We've been doing this for so long," said Dr. Matthew Sims, a physician and director of infectious disease research at Beaumont Health, the Michigan's largest health care system. "It does get tiring to the nurses, the doctors, everybody when we see this huge number of patients that are all coming in that are not vaccinated."
More on Covid-19
Wednesday's Top Stories
President Joe Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday that the U.S. would pursue "strong economic measures" should Russia invade Ukraine. The House also approved the massive defense authorization bill Tuesday that includes $300 million in military support for Ukraine. 
"It really shows how polarizing and toxic the political environment has become when an elected official is getting a threat over infrastructure — one of the things that everybody loves," said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y.. Her office has been inundated with angry phone calls since she voted for the roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package last month. 
Biden's move is being criticized as a half-measure, from both sides of the partisan divide, illustrating the challenge he faces at home as he tries to calibrate effective responses to China's rise as a global power. Meantime, Australia announced it will join the U.S. in the diplomatic boycott of the games. 
Two sets of parents are suing Maine over its policy of making tuition money available in areas that don’t have public high schools but not for schools that promote sectarian beliefs. Also in the News
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Explosions, noise and beach closings have disrupted the peace in Boca Chica, Texas, and harmed wildlife, residents and environmentalists say One Fun Thing
Singer Olivia Rodrigo returned to the DMV this week — not to get her driver's license, but to perform her famous song about it.
The singer and "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series" star performed songs from her album "Sour" at the Glendale DMV in California for a special edition of NPR's "Tiny Desk" series, which was uploaded Tuesday.
Read the full story here.
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