![The great American sickout: Omicron is causing "hellacious" worker shortages](https://cbsnews3.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2022/01/13/995456dd-7d4b-4e25-a091-cc8e78340146/thumbnail/1200x630/165e495918171ef61096fe3c1a2a43b2/gettyimages-1351061824.jpg)
The great American sickout: Omicron is causing "hellacious" worker shortages
CBSN
A record spike in COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant is causing a nationwide worker "sickout," disrupting businesses ranging from grocery stores to airlines.
The past few weeks have been "hellacious," Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian said in a Thursday conference call with analysts and reporters. The executive said 8,000 employees have contracted COVID-19 in the last four weeks alone — about 10% of the carrier's workforce — a toll that contributed to more than 2,200 cancelled flights since December 24.
Although a precise count of the number of employees who are out sick sick or quarantining is hard to come by, about 5 million Americans could be isolating due to COVID-19 at the peak of Omicron, according to Andrew Hunter, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics. That could reflect about 2% of the nation's workforce forced to stay home due to illness, he added.
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As vaccination rates decline, widespread outbreaks of diseases like measles and polio could reemerge
Health officials in western Texas are trying to contain a measles outbreak among mostly school-aged children, with at least 15 confirmed cases. It's the latest outbreak of a disease that had been virtually eliminated in the U.S., and it comes as vaccination rates are declining — jeopardizing the country's herd immunity from widespread outbreaks.