News in brief this evening: Top stories from Dec. 28

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A 14-year-old was shopping for Christmas clothes last week with her mother when the pair heard screams and hid in a dressing room, where the girl was fatally shot by Los Angeles police after an officer fired a rifle at a suspect and a bullet pierced a wall, the family said Tuesday.

Valentina Orellana-Peralta died in her mother’s arms last Thursday at a Burlington store in the San Fernando Valley's North Hollywood neighborhood. Her family said the teen loved skateboarding and had dreams of becoming an engineer to build robots.

After screams broke out in the store the day before Christmas Eve, the teenager locked the dressing room door.

"We sat down on a seat, holding each other, praying, when something hit my daughter, Valentina, and threw us to the floor," she said. "And my daughter died in my arms. I couldn't do anything."

The teen's family stood outside the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters on Tuesday, next to a large photo of Orellana-Peralta wreathed in flowers, to call for justice and remember their daughter.

Speaking in Spanish and choking back tears as sirens wailed in the background of the news conference in downtown LA, they said they had left Chile to get away from violence and injustice in search of a better life in the U.S.

The LAPD on Monday posted an edited video package online that included 911 calls, radio transmissions, body camera footage and surveillance video from the Thursday shooting at a Burlington store crowded with holiday shoppers. The department's policy is to release video from critical incidents, such as police shootings, within 45 days.

The family's attorneys — including civil rights lawyer Ben Crump — have sent a letter to the LAPD asking for more video.

The 24-year-old suspect, Daniel Elena Lopez, died at the scene. Soledad Peralta's screams can be heard in the video.

"At this preliminary phase of the investigation, it is believed that the victim was struck by one of the rounds fired by an officer at the suspect," police Capt. Stacy Spell said in the posted video. Police believe the bullet skipped off the floor and struck the dressing room wall.

The California Department of Justice is also investigating.

"We at the LAPD would like to express our most heartfelt condolences and profound regret for the loss of this innocent victim, Valentina Orellana-Peralta. There are no words that can describe the depth of the sorrow we feel at this tragic outcome," Spell said in the video.

Mourners left flowers and a votive candle outside the store on Christmas in a memorial for Orellana-Peralta. Her family said she earned good grades, even though English was her second language and she'd only been in the U.S. for about six months.

Her father, Juan Pablo Orellana Larenas, already had purchased tickets to relocate to the U.S. when he learned of his daughter's death. They were planning to go to an NBA basketball game — she was a fan of star LeBron James — and see a favorite band perform, he said.

Orellana Larenas held up a brand-new skateboard, still in its plastic wrapping, that his daughter had ordered online. It was delivered after she died.

The family plans to leave the skateboard at her grave "so that she can skate with the angels," her father said.

Photos: Family remembers girl killed in LA store shooting

The US hit a seven-day average of 265,427 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, blowing past the country's previous record of about 252,000 daily cases, reported nearly a year ago on January 11.

The new peak, according to Johns Hopkins University data, comes amid a rapid acceleration of infections in the United States -- and across the world -- since last month.

And experts predict the Omicron variant -- the most contagious strain of coronavirus yet -- is going to make the start of 2022 very difficult.

"January is going to be a really, really hard month. And people should just brace themselves for a month where lots of people are going to get infected," said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.

And the US could "see half a million cases a day -- easy -- sometime over the next week to 10 days," CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner said Sunday.

Most people who are vaccinated and boosted won't get severe illness, but that won't be true for the unvaccinated, Jha said.

"A lot of people who have not gotten a vaccine are going to end up getting pretty sick, and it's going to be pretty disruptive," Jha said. "My hope is as we get into February and certainly by the time we get into March, infection numbers will come way down, and it'll also start getting (into) spring, and the weather will start getting better. And that will also help."

Despite calls from experts for Americans to get their vaccines and boosters, the rate of booster doses getting administered has fallen in recent weeks -- while only 32.7% of the country's fully vaccinated population is boosted.

In addition to getting vaccinated and boosted, people can protect themselves by taking precautions in public, Jha said.

"I would urge people to wear a higher quality mask any time they're in a place with lots of people and they're going to be indoors for any extended period of time," Jha said.

A surgical mask might be fine for a quick grocery store trip in an empty store, but for other events, a well-fitting N95 or KF94 mask provides better protection, he said.

Looking ahead to New Year's Eve on Friday, small gatherings of fully vaccinated people will be safe, Dr. Anthony Fauci said. But people should avoid large parties where they don't know the vaccination status of all guests, he said.

"When you are talking about a New Year's Eve party where you have 30, 40, 50 people celebrating, you do not know the status of the vaccination, I would recommend strongly: Stay away from that this year," said Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

"There will be other years to do that. But not this year."

Pediatric hospitalizations nearing previous record

Holiday gatherings, like those over Christmas and New Year's, have some health care workers worried about the impact on children in the coming weeks -- especially those who are too young to be vaccinated.

"We've just had all of these kids mixing together with everybody else during Christmas," said Dr. Claudia Hoyen, the director of pediatric infection control at UH Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Ohio.

"We have one more holiday to get through with New Year's, and then we'll be sending everybody back to school. Everybody is kind of waiting on the edge, wondering what we'll end up seeing."

Nationwide, pediatric Covid-19 hospitalizations are nearing the record high set in September.

On average, roughly 305 children were admitted to the hospital with Covid-19 on any given day over the week that ended December 26, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Department of Health and Human Services.

That's more than a 48% jump from the previous week's average and just 10.7% lower than the peak average of 342 children who were admitted to hospitals with the virus that was recorded at the end of August and early September.

In New York City, where cases are surging and the average percent positivity rate is continuing to trend upward, pediatric hospitalizations increased five-fold over a three-week period.

In Chicago, hospitalizations at one children's hospital have quadrupled. At Children's National Hospital in Washington, DC, close to half the Covid-19 tests are coming back positive.

At Texas Children's Pediatrics & Urgent Care in Houston, the chief medical officer is concerned about the current surge, he said.

"What's concerning on the (pediatric) side is that, unlike the adults -- where they're reporting for the number of adults getting infected relatively low numbers getting hospitalized -- what we're really seeing, we think, is an increasing number of kids being hospitalized," Dr. Stanley Spinner said.

Children are an easy target for the virus, said Dr. Juan Salazar, physician in chief at Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford.

"It's affecting larger communities and it's certainly affecting children in a way that we hadn't seen before," he said. "And that's new compared to last year."

CDC updates isolation guidelines

Days after updating its guidance on isolation time for health care workers who test positive for Covid-19, the CDC updated its guidance for the general population.

The agency shortened the recommended time for isolation for people with Covid-19 to five days, if asymptomatic, followed by five days of wearing a mask when around others. The prior guidance advised 10 days of isolation.

"The change is motivated by science demonstrating that the majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of illness, generally in the 1-2 days prior to onset of symptoms and the 2-3 days after," the CDC said in a statement about the updated guidelines.

The new recommendations will allow asymptomatic people "to come back to work earlier, and safely, at very low risk," said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

"That will help us in the New Year begin to get our gears back into operation and to function better."

The CDC also updated its recommended quarantine period for those exposed to someone with Covid-19.

For those who are unvaccinated, have not had a second mRNA dose in more than six months or have not had a booster shot, the CDC recommends quarantining for five days followed by strict mask use for an additional five days.

People who have gotten their booster shot do not need to quarantine if they are exposed to Covid-19, but they should wear a mask for 10 days after exposure, the CDC said.

The shorter isolation and quarantine guidelines stem from "the extraordinary, unprecedented wave of infections" the United States is seeing and is likely to continue seeing over the next weeks, Fauci told CNN on Tuesday.

"There is the danger that there will be so many people who are being isolated who are asymptomatic for the full 10 days that you could have a major negative impact on our ability to keep society running," he said.

The-CNN-Wire

™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

Betty White, a national treasure, is just weeks away from celebrating her 100th birthday.

The award-winning actress spoke to People Magazine ahead of the milestone, saying, "I'm so lucky to be in such good health and feel so good at this age. It's amazing," White said.

White revealed a secret to her longevity, joking that she tries "to avoid anything green" in her diet.

"I think it's working," she quipped.

Related: Betty White is turning 100 and we're all invited

White has starred in series like "The Golden Girls" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" over the years and says she now lives a quieter life, playing crossword puzzles and card games, according to the magazine. She also loves to watch wildlife documentaries, "Jeopardy!" and golf.

But the key to her happiness, the actress and philanthropist said, is that she works to "always find the positive" in her life.

"I got it from my mom, and that never changed," she said.

The big day for White is January 17.

The-CNN-Wire

™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

Do you have a sore throat, a runny nose and muscle aches? It could be a common cold, a case of the flu -- or Covid-19.

The illnesses all share similar symptoms, sometimes making it hard to distinguish which is putting you under the weather.

Case rates of Covid-19 have been on the rise as the Omicron variant has spread, but hospitalization numbers appear to be staying relatively low. For vaccinated people, evidence suggests that infection with this variant seems less likely to be severe, epidemiologist and former Detroit Health Department executive director, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed said.

"The important thing to remember is a vaccine is like giving a 'be on the lookout' call to your immune system. So its capacity to identify, target and destroy viruses is so much higher every time we take another boost of the vaccine," El-Sayed said. "It makes sense that the symptoms you would experience are milder if you have been vaccinated."

That does not mean, however, that infections shouldn't be taken seriously, he added, especially when considering the risk of overwhelming health care systems.

"Just because the per-individual risk of severe illness may be lower, that doesn't mean on a societal level Omicron doesn't pose a real risk," he said. "Even a small proportion of a relatively large number can be a relatively large number."

Many Covid-19 infections may look like a cold or flu. The best way to know is to get a test, said Dr. Sarah Ash Combs, attending physician at Children's National Hospital.

"Short of getting a test, I would say it's really tricky to distinguish right now," Combs said. "We need to just treat cold-ish symptoms in pretty much the same bucket" as Covid-19.

What symptoms to look for

Early signs of cold, flu and Covid-19 tend to be similar, El-Sayed said.

Both Covid-19 and the flu often cause symptoms such as fever, fatigue, body aches, sore throat, shortness of breath and vomiting or diarrhea, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Covid-19 infection can be distinguished, however, by the headache and dry cough that often go along with it. The loss of taste and smell that has been the biggest warning sign of a Covid-19 infection is still a possible symptom, though it is less prevalent now than it has been with other variants, El-Sayed said.

"For people who are feeling serious chest pain, particularly with a dry cough that has gotten worse, that's when you really ought to seek medical attention," he warned.

The most important factor to consider is exposure.

"If you are starting to feel any of these symptoms, it's worth asking: Has anybody with whom I've come into contact been infected with Covid? It's also worth isolating and taking a rapid test," he advised.

Even if you're not feeling symptoms yet, it may be best to exercise caution if you have been around someone who tested positive for Covid-19.

"I do think it is worth keeping a high suspicion that it could be Covid considering that we have the Omicron variant spreading like wildfire," El-Sayed added.

When to test for Covid-19

It is often good to address your suspicions of Covid-19 by taking a test, although when you do it makes a difference.

If you are feeling symptoms, now is the time to take a test, El-Sayed said.

For those who have been exposed but aren't feeling symptoms, there is a possibility that the virus hasn't developed enough to show up on a rapid test, he explained. In those cases, it is best to wait five days after exposure before testing and to remain on the lookout, according to the CDC.

"Just because you get a negative test doesn't necessarily mean it's not Covid," El-Sayed said. "The best approach is to test and then maybe test again in 12 to 24 hours, and if you get two negatives, you can be more certain that it's not."

Whether it is Covid-19 or the common cold, it has always been a good idea to isolate while you fight a viral illness, he said. It has become even more important with the risk of spread increasing with Covid-19.

What to do if your child starts sniffling

Looking ahead to the return to school after the winter break, the US is at a point where people need to treat cold or flu symptoms the same as Covid-19, Combs said.

When a family comes into her emergency room with a child that has sniffles and a sore throat and asks what it is, she is honest: She can't know for sure without a test, said Combs.

Children are experiencing Omicron much in the same way adults are in that the symptoms are much more wide-ranging and often milder, like a cold, she said.

Getting a flu shot for your child is important to reduce the chance of adding another virus to the mix, Combs said. Children under 5-years-old are still waiting on vaccine approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, but those older can get vaccinated to reduce the risk of spread and serious disease.

As they go back to a school environment, testing is going to be essential to protecting against outbreaks, Combs said.

"If you're looking to be really careful, if you're looking at a child going back to a school environment is to spread to other people, I would say really the only way to know is taking that test," Combs said.

The good news is we know how to manage infections when children return to school, Combs said. When it isn't clear if your child was exposed or if their test is still pending, protocols like masking, sanitizing, distancing and reducing indoor gatherings are still believed to be effective in reducing spread, she added.

And know that advice may evolve as time goes on, El-Sayed cautioned.

"It's changing quickly. We're learning a lot more," he said. "Omicorn is a variant we've really only known for about a month."

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the hospital where Dr. Sarah Ash Combs works. It is Children's National Hospital.

The-CNN-Wire

™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home prices surged again in October as the housing market continues to boom in the wake of last year's coronavirus recession.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index, out Tuesday, climbed 18.4% in October from a year earlier. The gain marked a slight deceleration from a 19.1% year-over-year increase in September but was about in line with what economists had been expecting.

All 20 cities posted double-digit annual gains. The hottest markets were Phoenix (up 32.3%), Tampa (28.1%) and Miami (25.7%). Minneapolis and Chicago posted the smallest increases, 11.5% each.

The housing market has been strong thanks to rock-bottom mortgage rates, a limited supply of homes on the market, and pent-up demand from consumers locked in last year by the pandemic. Many Americans, tired of being cooped up at home during the pandemic, are looking to trade up from apartments to homes or to bigger houses.

"Home price growth will slow further in the year ahead, but continue to go up," said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com. "As housing costs eat up a larger share of home purchaser's paychecks, buyers will get creative. Many will take advantage of ongoing workplace flexibility to move to the suburbs where despite home price gains, many can still find a lower price per square foot than nearby cities."

It remains unclear if that shift is permanent or an aberration, said Craig Lazzara, managing director at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

"We have previously suggested that the strength in the U.S. housing market is being driven in part by a change in locational preferences as households react to the COVID pandemic,'' Lazzara said. "More data will be required to understand whether this demand surge represents an acceleration of purchases that would have occurred over the next several years, or reflects a more permanent secular change.''

Last week, mortgage rates fell — to 3.05% for the benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate and 2.66% for the 15-year fixed-rate home loan. The persistently low rates signal that credit markets appear more concerned about the omicron variant depressing economic growth than about the highest inflation rates in nearly 40 years.

The National Association of Realtors reported last week that sales of previously occupied homes rose for the third straight month in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.46 million.