U.S. companies responded to the new Covid-19 variant with a mix of both concern and confusion. Some executives scheduled calls with internal teams to assess the threat or peppered health advisers with questions, while many cautioned that they would hold off in making changes to operations until more is known.
The fast-spreading Omicron variant pushed companies in a range of industries to consider how safety measures and new workflows created during the peak of the pandemic could be reinstated. It also served as a reminder, executives say, that navigating through the unknowns of Covid-19 is a new reality of corporate management.