These are the headlines you Need2Know:
* **Seattle Plane Thief Presumed Dead:**
An airline employee stole a 76-seat passenger plane from the Seattle-Tacoma Airport and took it on a wild ride Friday before crashing it onto a nearby island. Richard Russell, who's presumed dead after officials found human remains in the wreckage, worked as a baggage handler and did not have his pilot’s license. For more on the investigation, check out the [Seattle Times](https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/live-updates-airplane-taken-from-seattle-tacoma-international-airport-crashes/).
* **Wildfires Continue to Spread:**
The fires have scorched more than 1.6 million acres in states from Washington to New Mexico, with California among the hardest hit. There are more than 100 active, large wildfires in the U.S. In some cases, smoke from the wildfires in California has traveled nearly 3,000 miles to New York. See the map [here](https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/10/us/smoke-california-wildfire-reaches-nyc-wxc-trnd/index.html).
* **Tiger Woods Finishes 2nd to Some Other Guy at the PGA:**
Brooks Koepka became the fifth person to win the U.S. Open and PGA Championship in the same season. But most golf fans were focused on Tiger Woods: his second-place finish led most of the weekend's coverage. For more on Woods's comeback, [click here](https://amp.slate.com/culture/2018/08/tiger-woods-2018-pga-he-finishes-runner-up-to-brooks-koepka-in-thrilling-final-round.html).
* **Omarosa Manigault Newman Slams President Trump:**
The former "Apprentice" contestant and ex-White House aide released a recording of Chief of Staff John Kelly from inside the Situation Room. Newman, who has called Trump "racist" and "misogynist," said on "Meet the Press" she was complicit in the administration's efforts to fool the country. Hear the recordings [here](https://twitter.com/MeetThePress/status/1028655650392485890/video/1).
Cheddar's Jill Wagner gets into the latest.
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Experts say that at some point next year, the pandemic will officially drop its pandemic status, becoming endemic. While this is a milestone to acknowledge, it does not mean we're free of infections, illnesses, and deaths. Dr. Rajeev Fernando, infectious disease specialist, Beth Israel Hospital and fellow, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Chicago-based Internist Dr. Vivek Cherian joined Wake Up With Cheddar to break down the unprecedented surge in U.S. COVID-19 as many prepare to celebrate the new year.
Dr. Soumi Eachempati, co-founder and CEO of Cleared4 and former professor of surgery and public health at Weill Cornell Medical College, joined Cheddar to breakdown what people should know about the recently FDA-approved emergency use of Merck and Pfizer's COVID-19 treatment pills. He noted that not only do people need to be aware of other medications they are taking that could cause adverse effects if coupled with COVID-19 pill treatments, he also talked about the intense in-take regiment. "The Merck pills are actually about 40 pills over five days. The Pfizer ones are three pills over five days, so people have to be prepared for that because it is a lot of pills you'll have to take to get full value from these drugs," Eachempati told Cheddar.
Twitter is exploding with a new meme after the CDC revised its Covid-19 guidelines, shortening the recommended isolation period to five days instead of 10 for when you test positive and are asymptomatic. The change came amid a skyrocketing surge of new cases is the U.S. due to the Omicron variant, drawing criticism from experts and Twitter --with users claiming the government agency is giving funny advise on a variety of issues. But what does the meme say about the public’s trust in the agency? Cheddar News speaks with political strategist Hastie Afkhami.
The list of questions should be getting shorter as we enter the pandemic's third year, but that isn't the case. There's another question to add to that list: is the U.S. doing enough to track the virus and its variants? Lawrence Gostin, faculty director of the O'Neill Institute for national and global health law at Georgetown University, joins Cheddar News.
As we prepare to ring in the new year, COVID cases are hitting an all-time high. Dr. Anthony Fauci has said the safest way to celebrate would be a small gathering with vaccinated family members only... far from the large, flashy parties from a few years ago. Dr. Christina Johns, senior medical advisor at PM Pediatrics, joins Cheddar News to discuss how to celebrate safely.
