The new Omicron Variant was found in November 2021 and has since spread drastically. People who are fully vaccinated and who have never gotten COVID-19 are getting it and most schools have been going back online. This has caused many problems in people’s personal lives because most companies are no longer giving sick days so people can’t stay home when they have COVID -19 long enough to not be contagious. This is causing it to spread quicker. Because people can’t get paid sick days off they are expected to work while extremely sick to be able to provide for themselves and others. Starbucks updated policy for COVID-19 is 5-day quarantines. On January 23, 2022, the Broadway location had to shut down due to a lack of shifts supervisors because all of them were exposed. The store was not re-opened for a whole day, this could have been avoided if people were able to quarantine as long as necessary to not be contagious. 

At the beginning of COVID-19, back in 2020, everyone was very strict on handling it but now it seems like no one cares, even though it is just as deadly as it has always been to those who are unvaccinated and has mutated so it is still dangerous for those who are, resulting in them still being able to get sick from it. The problem is that sickness is rising but the government is declining in its efforts to help. The CDC has changed the rules to a 5-day quarantine if you have no symptoms, or if your symptoms are going away then wearing a mask around others for 5 days after that. Those days don’t even add up to the 2 weeks that were necessary in the past.

Due to the unpaid quarantines, people are struggling financially, in the past to help compensate for this the states were given stimulus checks, these were checks given to every person over the age of 18. They were to help out with bills and food for those who could not work at all. These checks are just as necessary now as they were then because people are really struggling. It’s not as bad as it was in the beginning but it is still a problem and it is still deadly.