The Omicron variant is\u00a0impacting holiday air travel this year. That mask will remain on your face in the air, on the train or on public transportation until Mid-March now.<\/b>
\nMIAMI (CBSMiami) \u2013 The Omicron variant is impacting holiday air travel this year. That mask will remain on your face in the air, on the train or on public transportation until Mid-March now. \u201cI\u2019m a businessman, I need to travel so I guess I have to cope with it,\u201d said Passenger Drew Benn. If you\u2019re heading out of the country, when you come back you\u2019ll have to get tested within a day before your return flight. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a lot more inconvenient and a lot of unnecessary expense,\u201d said Passenger Terry Coy. He and his wife Julie are heading to Ecuador. They don\u2019t like the new testing requirements. Dr. Hany Atallah is the Chief Medical Officer for Jackson Memorial. \u201cI think the sooner you can do it from when you\u2019re going to travel, the better,\u201d he said. He said a major step in fighting the potential of that new variant is getting the shot. \u201cThe way to break that chain is make sure that everyone get adequately vaccinated and doesn\u2019t get the illness to begin with,\u201d Dr. Atallah said. Medical experts say we have the tools already to stay safe. So, if you\u2019re planning that visit to Art Basel or just going about town doctors suggest doing what we already know, like Get Vaccinated, wear a mask, practice social distancing, get tested, and wash your hands. Dr. Atallah warns if we don\u2019t take precautions, we know what happens next. \u201cUnless we\u2019re careful, appropriately careful, Omicron will come and do the same thing the delta variant and other variants have done and we\u2019ll wind up finding ourselves in another surge,\u201d he worries.<\/p>\n