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.
āYeah, itās frustrating,ā said Oscar Cardozo, whose flight was canceled. āYes of course, because we are stuck here we canāt travel.ā
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.
āI just wish the cruise line wouldāve informed us so we couldāve made better decisions about not going to the theatre or at least wearing our masks at all times,ā Alaimo said. āSo Iāve driven all the way to Connecticut and I canāt spend Christmas with my father.ā