(Stefani Reynolds | The New York Times) President Joe Biden takes questions from reporters after speaking about COVID-19, at the White House in Washington on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021. Facing an alarming surge in coronavirus cases that threatens to overwhelm the nation’s hospital system, President Biden stepped up his administration’s pandemic response again on Tuesday and tried to reassure an anxious nation, telling Americans that “we should all be concerned about omicron, but not panicked.”