For the second time in a week, Florida has broken a record for daily COVID-19 cases, with nearly 33,000 being reported from Friday.
The highly mutated and dominant omicron variant led to long testing lines in South Florida on Christmas morning.
Omicron is taking a toll on the airline industry as well, with dozens of flights canceled due to airlines such as Delta, JetBlue and others being short-staffed.
“Yeah, it’s frustrating,” said Oscar Cardozo, whose flight was canceled. “Yes of course, because we are stuck here we can’t travel.”
Benjamin Alaimo got back from a cruise earlier this month and has tested positive for COVID-19.
Alaimo was on the Symphony of the Seas and was hoping to spend time with family before his positive test. The boat he was on had nearly 50 positive cases.
“I just wish the cruise line would’ve informed us so we could’ve made better decisions about not going to the theatre or at least wearing our masks at all times,” Alaimo said. “So I’ve driven all the way to Connecticut and I can’t spend Christmas with my father.”