New Yorkers queued for Covid-19 testing in Times Square on Dec. 26, 2021, as the omicron variant continued to spread.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters
Omicron is wreaking more disruption on the American economy.
That could prompt Washington lawmakers to revisit relief strategies from earlier in the Covid-19 pandemic.
Conversations on Capitol Hill have turned to possible aid for small businesses, restaurants, gyms and performance venues that have been hardest hit by this new wave, said Ed Mills, Washington policy analyst at Raymond James.
“The conversation has not yet been extended to assistance to individuals,” Mills said. “But it has gone from something that is not going to happen to something we have to watch.”
The U.S. reached a record single-day record of Covid cases this week, with more than 1 million new infections reported.
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Yet some measures of federal relief to help individuals and families – namely expanded unemployment benefits and three sets of stimulus checks – are no longer in effect.
This time around, lawmakers may not revisit those same strategies.
The reason: The pandemic has changed, and so has the U.S. economy.
While the early days of the pandemic was marked by high unemployment and record layoffs, that has now shifted in workers’ favor.
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