With omicron looming over the holidays, here's how to stay safe

Here we go again.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to almost normal times, a new, highly mutated variant of the coronavirus has reared its ugly head in the U.S.

Scientists say it's still too soon to know whether the omicron variant causes more or less severe disease, though early evidence does suggest it's better at evading the immune system than previous strains. And, omicron has raised several red flags that suggest it could be the most transmissible variant yet.

All this has many people wondering whether it's time to change our behavior for safety's sake.

The good news is, you don't have to hibernate like it's 2020. Experts note we're in a much different place than we were last winter, with COVID-19 vaccines and boosters now widely available. There's good hope that the current vaccines offer protection against severe disease with omicron.

That said, if this pandemic has taught us anything, it's that when you don't know what you're dealing