US officials intensified calls last week for unvaccinated Americans to get inoculated in the face of the new omicron variant that contributed to a record number of infections in New York and threatened to wipe out a second holiday season in Europe.

Though the calendar is about to change, there is a distinctly 2020 feel: The National Football League games were postponed because of Covid-19 infections. The Rockettes cancelled Christmas shows. European governments imposed a spate of restrictions that ground travel to a halt and saw travellers lying low.

Much remains unknown about omicron, but officials warn that it appears more transmissible than the delta variant, which has already put pressure on hospitals worldwide. The uncertainty alone was enough for many people to change their plans.

In the United States, President Joe Biden’s administration resisted tightening any restrictions, but also sketched out dire scenarios for the unvaccinated in a plea for hesitant Americans to get the shot.

For the unvaccinated, you’re looking at a winter of severe illness and death, for yourselves, your families, and the hospitals you may soon overwhelm, White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients said last week, echoing the president’s own comments earlier.

President Joe Biden’s administration resisted tightening any restrictions, but also sketched out dire scenarios for the unvaccinated in a plea for hesitant Americans to get the shot

The new variant is already in full force in New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said, with new cases hitting a one-day record of more than 8,300 last Thursday. But new hospitalisations and deaths so far are well below their spring 2020 peak and even where they were this time last year, city data shows.

The coronavirus also interrupted sports in the US again. The NFL announced last week that three games would be pushed from the weekend to next week because of outbreaks. The league has not specified whether the cases came from the omicron variant.

The Radio City Rockettes called off four performances scheduled for last week because of breakthrough Covid-19 cases in the production, and plans for upcoming shows were still being assessed. The popular holiday program generally has four shows per day in December at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan.

Dr Stanley Weiss, a Rutgers University epidemiology professor, said officials need to react faster, citing a willingness to redefine fully vaccinated to include booster shots, for example.

Everyone wants us to be through with this pandemic, but in order to get us through it, we can’t ignore the realities of what’s going on and what is needed, Mr Weiss said.

Denmark decided to close theatres, concert halls, amusement parks and museums in response to virus cases. In Spain, friends and classmates cancelled traditional year-end dinners.

Scotland and Wales last week pledged millions of pounds for businesses hurt in Britain’s latest infection surge, a move that heaped pressure on Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government to do the same in England.

Treasury chief Rishi Sunak held talks with business representatives who have demanded more support, decrying a lockdown by stealth in which government officials recommend people cut back on socialising as much as possible without officially imposing the strict rules of past shutdowns.

Britain reported record numbers of infections three days in a row this week, the latest on last Friday with more than 93,000 cases tallied.

Businesses ranging from vacation providers to pubs and theatres saw a wave of cancellations as customers decided to skip merrymaking for now rather than risk being infected and missing family celebrations later.

Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said last week that financial assistance for business must come from the central government because it has the borrowing power to finance the scale of aid that is needed.

The already beleaguered travel and tourism industry is being particularly hammered.

Eurostar, which operates trains across the English Channel, sold out of tickets to France last week before new rules restricting travel to and from Britain took effect. Long lines snaked around the parking lot at the Eurotunnel, which runs the tunnel that drivers use to cross the water.

Ryanair originally expected to carry about 11 million passengers in December, but that figure dropped to 10m, chief executive Michael OLeary told the Guardian. Europe’s biggest airline will also cut about 10 per cent of its capacity in January.

Amanda Wheelock, 29, a graduate student at the University of Michigan, cancelled a trip to France with her partner as cases spiked there. Even though the surge isn’t necessarily due to omicron, the uncertainty about the new variant, and a new requirement that all US travellers have to test negative before flying back to the US, made her worry that the trip would be more stressful than fun.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, December 20th, 2021