It's not called Omicron. It's supposed to be the Xi variant.

Well, things have started going to shit at one of my schools. Since last week, it seems that the Wuhan virus has finally made a splash at school. It started off with the majority of 6th graders from one of my classes being absent - apparently they weren't all infected, but were considered close contacts to the person that was. Come today, and find out that the entirety of that 6th grader class is now taking the week off, the entirety of one of my 5th grade classes is also taking the week off. Furthermore, the remaining 6th grade class was down to around 10 students today, so I ended up cancelling my scheduled class, as there was really no way to continue progress with the text book, with 80% of the class not at school for this week. I spoke to the home room teachers, and we agreed to do a online/hybrid style lesson for the 6th graders this Thursday, but have to make the lesson in such a way that doesn't require the text book, as the students at home didn't take their textbooks home with them - which is understandable, as I never give them homework anyway. 

As a result, the school had a meeting on how to continue forward. From what I understand, any siblings of the students from those absent 5th and 6th grade classes are also required to stay at home for the week, which is a good approach at trying to contain the problem. Furthermore, while in the past, students could take their masks off during P.E. and break time, students are now required to keep their masks on at all times at school... except when they're eating lunch, obviously.
It is a bit concerning, given I have regular contact with the students. Since finding out about this last week, I've avoided playing with the students outside during break time. On the other hand, it gives me an opportunity to prepare for future lessons during that time, but it does kind of suck. 

Speaking of things sucking, my city seems to be in a State of Emergency again - where restaurants will close at 8pm, no alcohol to be served during that time, and some places have chosen to close during that time - including my regular gym. Again. Fortunately, the other gym near my apartment seems to still be operating, so it looks I'll be going there in the mean time until my usual gym opens up again.