- December 23, 2021
- Posted by: Stratford Team
- Category: Business
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.
Mr. Steingold decided to close the shop, which is known for its bagels, lox and corned beef, on Saturday and reopened Wednesday, after the remaining staffers tested negative on both rapid and PCR tests. He and the other staffer who tested positive will continue to isolate, and the shop for now will be taking orders with no indoor dining, he said.
Everyone on the staff is fully vaccinated and boosted, he said, but that doesn’t seem to…
