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National

GDP stocking stuffer: The COVID-19 vaccine generated economic savings equal to 2.3% in the real gross domestic product to the U.S. this year. 

Thank a teacher: Severe burnout is raising concerns about turnover — and more broadly, the state of education.

Record low: U.S. population grew by 0.1% in the year that ended July 1, the slowest rate since the nation's founding. 

New supply chain crisis: Shipping containers carrying medical supplies are facing ongoing transportation congestion

Buckle up: Wall Street strategists see the shape of 2022 pegged to three main hooks: inflation, corporate spending and the pandemic's path.

5 stories worth your time

Illustration of a Christmas tree with the Axios "A" as the topper. 

Axios

World

Pro Rata

Axios Pro Rata

New York's essential workers now can return to work just five days after receiving a positive COVID-19 test, so long as they're vaccinated and asymptomatic.

Why it matters: The revised rules cuts quarantine time in half from 10 days  and come as New York has struggled to maintain staffing levels within a variety of industries, including health care, food services, and transportation.

Between the lines: Governor Kathy Hochul said in a Friday briefing that the move was based on early indications that infections from Omicron are less severe than from the original COVID-19 strain or the Delta variant. 

State health officials reported more than 44,400 positive cases on Thursday, the most ever. The 10.2% positivity rate, on a 7-day rolling average, also was an all-time high. 

State officials said that the new rules came after the CDC released new guidance reducing the quarantine time for health care workers from 10 to seven days. 

New York cuts essential worker quarantine times in half

Essential workers now can return to work just 5 days after a positive test if they are vaccinated.

Woman with facemask walking on the Brooklyn Bridge.

COVID-19

2024 will be an election year like no other, as President Biden seeks re-election amid economic uncertainty, two wars and questions about his age. His likely foe, former President Trump, faces felony charges and vows revenge on his political enemies. Meanwhile, Americans generally are dissatisfied with those choices and are divided over immigration, race, education and more.

Politics & Policy

The U.S. health system faces critical questions about cost, access and equity. Technological advances and new discoveries about diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s are transforming patient care and reshaping public health.

Health

Space

Axios Space

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope launched to space on Christmas Day, a major milestone for a telescope that promises to change scientists' understanding of the history of our universe. 

Why it matters: The telescope, known as the Hubble Space Telescope's successor, is designed to capture the light of some of the first galaxies that formed after the Big Bang, parse out the atmospheres of planets in other solar systems, watch stars evolve in clouds of dust and other tasks.

What's happening: The $10 billion JWST took flight from Kourou, French Guiana at 7:20am ET atop an Ariane 5 rocket. 

"James Webb begins a voyage back to the birth of the universe," NASA spokesperson Rob Navias said upon liftoff.

Context: This is a huge moment for the scientists and engineers involved in the 20-plus-year endeavor to build and design the JWST. 

The cost of the telescope ballooned over time as technical and budgetary hiccups led to years of delays that threatened to cancel the project. 

What's next: Over the next few weeks — as it makes its way out to a point about 1 million miles from Earth — the telescope will start to unfurl, deploying its tennis court-sized sunshield, gold-coated mirrors and scientific instruments into the proper configuration.

"No one has ever before unfolded a telescope in space," JWST scientist Jane Rigby told Axios before launch. "What we're doing is necessary — astronomy simply cannot advance in some key areas until we build bigger telescopes, and that means telescopes that have to unfold."

Unlike the Hubble, the JWST won't be able to be serviced by crewed missions should anything go wrong because of its great distance from Earth.

Go deeper: NASA's next great space telescope has arrived 

NASA's next great telescope launches to space

The telescope is heading to a point 1 million miles from Earth and will change our view of the universe.

The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope. A rocket launches into clouds

NASA

News and analysis of the scientific advances fueling AI and quantum computing, revolutionizing biology and medicine, and tackling climate change. Science is changing the world and colliding with the global politics that shape it.

Science

Axios Science

As the Taliban moved on Kabul in August, Tahera Ahmadi, 31, a married doctor, fled Afghanistan with just a backpack. Now, she's trying to rebuild a life in Alexandria, Virginia.

The big picture: As people around the world celebrate Christmas and the start of a new year, Ahmadi and about 74,000 other Afghan evacuees are navigating their own new beginnings in the U.S.

About 48,000 people have been resettled under Operation Allies Welcome, and 26,000 others are at seven military bases around the country where they go through immigration processing, health screening and vaccination.

Their journeys have been winding and uncertain. Many have been marked by heartbreak and devastating loss, isolation and bewilderment. Even for those with strong links to the U.S. — like Ahmadi and her husband — the vast landscape of the unknown looms over everything.

Ahmadi flew from Herat, Afghanistan, to Kabul on Aug. 7, about a week before the Afghan government collapsed. She was evacuated to Qatar and later Germany. 

Ahmadi and a friend who arrived in Qatar together were beaming despite the sunburn, dust, coughing and uncertainty. They showered, clothed, under a large tap. "We were so happy we got out," she recalled.

Behind the scenes: Ahmadi's husband had worked at the U.S. Consulate in Herat before it was attacked by the Taliban in 2013. He came to the U.S. shortly after on a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) and worked in California, most recently as an Uber and Lyft driver.

In Afghanistan, Ahmadi had worked as a volunteer and contractor for USAID and other international organizations, coordinating English-language programs and providing workforce development for women. That put her in danger when power changed hands.

She remembers her husband telling her to stay in Kabul until she could get out — not to return to Herat because it was so dangerous. "'If you die, die there,'" he told her. 

Ahmadi landed at Dulles International Airport on Sept. 4 and was taken to Fort Pickett, Virginia, one of the seven processing locations. She stayed there for almost two months. 

At the end of October, Ahmadi left Fort Pickett voluntarily — a path taken by about 5,000 Afghans with close ties in the U.S.

Her husband packed his things into a car and drove from California to Virginia to reunite with her.

How it works: People resettled by the State Department and local agencies receive assistance in the first 30–90 days with housing, finding employment, getting their children into schools, and learning English.

But the flooded system is strapped by a shortage of affordable housing and staff at resettlement agencies, and the Biden administration is facing criticism that the process is moving slowly.

A major concern among community organizers now is the risk of Afghans becoming homeless when assistance runs up, says Shekeba Morrad, a lawyer in the D.C. metro area and volunteer helping to coordinate resettlement efforts.

What's next: A stopgap program known as humanitarian parole gives Ahmadi and others two years in the U.S. as they wait for their green cards and SIV applications to be processed.

She's considering getting a medical certification but has to weigh their financial needs. 

What to watch: More than 60,000 Afghans who worked with the U.S. and applied for visas to come to the country remain in Afghanistan. 

The U.S. intends to continue to welcome additional Afghans to this country over the coming weeks, months and years, a White House official told Axios.

"We owe them a debt of gratitude and obligation, but it goes beyond that," says Jamil Jaffer, director of the National Security Law & Policy Program at George Mason University. 

"It’s about every other person that we try to recruit, that the CIA tries to recruit as an asset, that we try to hire at an embassy. They’re going to say, 'Why should I trust you? Why should I rely on you?'"

What you can do: For the Afghans resettling across the U.S., "something as simple as friendship means the world to these people," Morrad says.

Private citizens can formally sponsor Afghans through a program launched by the State Department earlier this fall.

Informal outreach is also tremendously comforting, Morrad says. "Celebrating holidays with them, sending cookies, teaching your children to help refugees in school." 

Stef Kight contributed reporting to this story. 

What Afghans face 4 months after evacuation

Evacuees are trying to navigate new beginnings in the U.S.

Afghanistan

The White House will lift the travel restrictions it imposed on eight African countries last month after the Omicron variant was first reported in South Africa, White House assistant press secretary Kevin Munoz said on Friday. 

Driving the news: The restrictions will end on Dec. 31, according to Munoz. He said the decision to lift travel restrictions was recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"The restrictions gave us time to understand Omicron and we know our existing vaccines work against Omicron, esp boosted," Munoz said in a tweet.

People traveling from the countries will now be subject to the same protocols the U.S. has imposed elsewhere — requiring foreigners be vaccinated and that all travelers get a negative COVID-19 test within a day of their departure.

Flashback: President Biden in late November restricted entry from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi at the recommendation of medical experts and the COVID-19 response team.

The restrictions apply to people who were in the countries during the 14-day period before they tried to enter the U.S. It does not apply to American citizens and permanent residents.

Reuters first reported on the decision to lift the restrictions. 

Between the lines: Officials in South Africa had criticized countries that imposed travel bans on the nation, saying it was being punished, rather than praised, "for its advanced genomic sequencing and the ability to detect new variants quicker."

The World Health Organization also condemned restrictions, saying they place a "heavy burden on lives and livelihoods."

Biden to lift travel restrictions on southern African countries

Officials in South Africa had criticized countries that imposed travel bans.

Travelers arrive at Miami International Airport ahead of the long holiday week-end of Memorial Day in Miami on May 26, 2021. Photo: Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images

Omicron variant COVID

Immigration

Coronavirus

Car rental prices are shooting up while travelers have fewer choices to choose from during the holiday season, the Wall Street Journal reports. 

Driving the news: The shortage can be traced to a rise in holiday travel, which is near pre-pandemic levels even with COVID cases rising due to the Omicron variant.

 The big picture: The car rental industry was one of the hardest hit by the pandemic, but made a comeback earlier this year after the vaccine rollout. 

Companies tried to restock to meet demand, but were unable to do so because of a chip shortage. 

By the numbers: The average daily rental rate in the U.S. in December was $81, up 31% from 2020, according to travel company Kayak, the WSJ writes. 

Pre-pandemic, the average rental rate was around $46 a day in December.

What they're saying: Hertz and Enterprise Holdings Inc. both told the WSJ that they are "taking steps to alleviate constraints" by moving stock and staff to high-demand locations.

Both companies also said they were trying to raise inventory by "non-traditional" means such as buying from dealerships instead of directly from manufacturers.

Car rental prices soar ahead of holiday travel

Travelers also have fewer choices vehicles to choose from due to an inventory shortage.

Hertz Car Rental. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

car rental

Transportation

Top stories & latest news on the Federal Reserve, real-time data, plus the biggest shifts happening in the U.S. and global economy.

Economy

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

NASA's $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope is set to launch to space on Christmas Day.

Why it matters: The JWST is designed to capture the light of some of the first galaxies that coalesced after the Big Bang, learn more about how stars form, peer into the atmospheres of alien planets and more. 

How to watch: The telescope — which is considered the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope — is expected to take flight from Kourou, French Guiana, at 7:20am ET on Christmas Day.

You can watch the launch live via NASA TV starting at 6am ET. 

Between the lines: Getting the JWST to the launch pad has been a long time coming.

NASA's next great telescope is set for launch

The $10 billion JWST is the Hubble Space Telescope's succes

Axios

Saturday's top stories