Omicron is facing the ghost of overflow at companies

Will Omicron’s halt after the first wave be the next economic nightmare? There is growing concern about a possible generalized disorder due to the increase in contamination expected in January.

According to Olivier Guerin, a member of the French Scientific Council, “Food distribution, security, energy, transport, communication and health”.

The president of the institution, Jean-François Delfraissi, for his part raised the “potential dislocation of many essential services”.

Still in a minority in France, the Omicron version has not caused mass forced isolation due to positive cases or contact cases. But some warning signs are showing and the headlines are a sixth wave in January.

cancellation of flights

On rail, the SNCF notes minor disruptions in regional trains but no impact on main lines. The RATP feels “no worries at the moment”, and the post office confirms not to face any problems.

On the wind side, where the Scandinavian company SAS had to cancel dozens of flights on Tuesday and Wednesday due to the absence of sick employees, and Lufthansa is facing the same problem on its long-haul flights, without confirming that the version is included, Air France does not currently treat pilots or flight crew as ill to the extent that it is forced to cancel.

In craft and small construction companies, an area already affected by staff shortages, “contact cases and positive cases mean we lose more manpower and it will be complicated to provide more activity,” worried Friday. The President of his Confederation (Capub), Jean-Christophe Repon on France Info.

In the areas of health, education, transport, the Minister of Health, Olivier Veran, tried to be reassured that “there are anticipation cells at all levels (…) to allow the country to turn”. and economics. We must avoid any incident of paralysis in the country,” he said.

When asked, the Finance Ministry said on Friday that be alert and keep a close watch on the situation, when many sectors may again plead for help.

spectacle

Telecom is strongly recommended by the government, but 44% of working people say they can’t use it, according to a survey conducted in mid-December by the Harris Cabinet for the Labor Ministry.

This is naturally the case with the performing arts, where a surge in cases at the Moulin Rouge, Crazy Horse and the Mogador Theater in Paris in the wake of Broadway has forced cancellations, rekindling the memory of the first wave. spring 2020.

In the UK, postal operator Royal Mail has seen absenteeism at this time of year doubled compared to 2018, while sick leaves among crew on trains have increased and the network is impacted, as reported by the Financial Times in mid-December. The Times reported. ,

Very quickly hit by the Omicron wave, the United Kingdom reported 120,000 cases of Covid-19 on Thursday, a new record, while France decimated more than 90,000.

“It is very likely that the activities of many companies will be significantly affected for the simple reason that Omicron is much more contagious than previous variants”, stresses Roel Beetsma, professor of economics at the University of Amsterdam.

This has already been the case in Belgium, where the Audi plant in Brussels, one of the country’s largest automobile manufacturing sites, closed for a week in late November due to the multiplication of COVID cases.

Faced with the risk of a tidal wave, according to Olivier Veran, the French government is considering a review of isolation methods that “need to prepare for the hypothesis (…) that a not insignificant part of the working population is found to be a contact or positive case even without symptoms, at the same time”.

The Health Defense Council will be held in France on Monday.