Omicron spoils U.S. holiday

The highly contagious Omicron variant, which appeared a month ago, is causing the number of new cases to skyrocket to record levels during the holiday travel season.
Holiday events were scrapped in droves, thousands of flights canceled, cruises are now off limits: the Omicron variant has wreaked havoc in the United States, and the New Year could see more issues exacerbating the worker shortage and price increases. 
The health authorities warned Americans to avoid cruise travel, even for the fully vaccinated.
The cruise industry called the decision by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention disappointing.
The warning was "particularly perplexing considering that cases identified on cruise ships consistently make up a very slim minority of the total population onboard -- far fewer than on land -- and the majority of those cases are asymptomatic or mild in nature," the Cruise Lines International Association said in a statement.
Economists say it is difficult to quantify the economic consequences of this new variant.
Moody's analysts lowered their growth forecast for the first quarter because of Omicron, cutting it to around two percent rather than the five percent previously expected.
The fear of contagion that is causing events to be canceled and the decline in restaurant reservations "are only part of the equation," Grant Thornton economist Diane Swonk warned in a tweet, noting that employers face worsening manpower issues due to the rise in infections.
"This is not new, just magnified by Omicron," she said.
Rising case counts mean more workers in quarantine due to a positive Covid-19 test or contact with an infected person, and the resulting personnel shortage could paralyze a large part of the economy.
"We have already seen the beginning of what I -- and clearly the CDC fears -- will be a surge in those out sick and unable to keep even vital services going," Swonk said.