Family Stress Intensifies as Omicron Invades the Holidays

Some people are resigned to another season of restrictions and plan to forge ahead with celebrations. Others are trying to overcome a sense of perpetual fear.

A single mother of two girls, Katherine Sargent is accustomed to working hard to ensure Christmas is a wonderful time, baking cookies and shopping with her children to find new ornaments for the tree.

She had hoped that this season would be more cheerful than in 2020, when schools were shuttered and the Covid-19 vaccine rollout had barely begun.

But it hasn’t turned out that way.