After nearly two years of dealing with worker shortages, pandemic restrictions and rising prices, many small businesses are suddenly facing a surge of employee illnesses from the Omicron variant that is leading to some hard choices.
Steingold’s of Chicago, a deli in the city’s Lakeview neighborhood, had weathered the pandemic without a single case of Covid-19 until last week, when one of 10 employees tested positive. Co-owner Aaron Steingold followed with a positive result a few days later.