COVID puts a damper on Christmas Eve again around the world

From Bethlehem and Frankfurt to London and Boston, the surging coronavirus put a damper on Christmas Eve for a second year, forcing churches to cancel or scale back services and disrupting travel plans and family gatherings.

Drummers and bagpipers marched through Bethlehem to smaller than usual crowds after new Israeli travel restrictions meant to slow the highly contagious omicron variant kept international tourists away from the town where Jesus is said to have been born.

In Germany, a line wound halfway around Cologne’s massive cathedral, not for midnight Mass but for vaccinations. The offer of shots was an expression of “care for one’s neighbor” that was consistent with the message of Christmas, cathedral provost Guido Assmann told the DPA news agency.

Around the world, people weary from nearly two years of lockdowns and other restrictions searched for ways to safely enjoy holiday rituals.

“We can't let the virus take our lives from us when we're healthy,” said Rosalia Lopes, a retired Portuguese government worker who was doing some last-minute shopping in the coastal town of Cascais.

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Airlines cancel flights due to COVID staffing shortages

NEW YORK (AP) — Airlines canceled hundreds of flights as the omicron variant jumbled schedules and drew down staffing levels at some carriers during the busy holiday travel season.

Delta Air Lines and United Airlines together canceled more than 600 flights on Friday and Saturday. As of early evening Friday, Delta canceled had 149 flights on Friday and 188 for Christmas Day, according to FlightAware. (Other factors, such as weather, are also causing cancellations.) United called off 189 flights on Friday, about 10% of its schedule, and 140 on Saturday. Planned cancellations continued into Sunday.

Not all airlines said COVID was disrupting their travel schedules. American Airlines said it had “nothing to report,” while Southwest Airlines said “things are running smoothly.” JetBlue, which FlightAware said had canceled nearly 150 flights over Friday and Saturday, did not respond to a request for comment.

Flight delays and cancellations tied to staffing shortages have been a regular problem for the U.S. airline industry this year. Airlines encouraged workers to quit in 2020, when air travel collapsed, and were caught short-staffed this year as travel recovered.

“The nationwide spike in omicron cases this week has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation,” United said in a statement. “As a result, we’ve unfortunately had to cancel some flights and are notifying impacted customers in advance of them coming to the airport.”

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Many US churches canceling in-person Christmas services

NEW YORK (AP) — Amid the surge of coronavirus cases across the U.S., numerous churches have canceled in-person Christmas services, disappointing pastors and churchgoers who consider them an annual highlight.

Other churches planned outdoor services or proposed a hybrid of online and in-person worship, often imposing tight restrictions for those in attendance. These included requirements to wear masks and show proof of COVID-19 vaccinations.

Among the prominent churches canceling some or all of their in-person Christmas services were Washington National Cathedral in the nation’s capital; St. John the Divine, the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of New York; and the historic Old South Church in Boston.

The Rev. Nancy Taylor, senior minister of Old South, said the church – affiliated with the United Church of Christ – still hoped to hold in-person Christmas Day services on Saturday, but was shifting its popular Christmas Eve service to online-only.

“The Christmas Eve congregation tends to be larger with a lot of visitors, some of whom have come from parties, and many of whom are not used to Boston’s mask mandate,” she explained in her announcement.

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COVID-19 makes Biden's 1st White House Christmas less merry

WASHINGTON (AP) — So long eggnog, shrimp cocktail and pet-shaped sugar cookies.

It's been a less merry holiday scene at the White House this year under COVID-19's shadow. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden have replaced the packed parties and overflowing buffet tables of the past with food-free open houses, face masks and testing for the unvaccinated.

Beyond the impact on Biden's first Christmas in office, the virus and its variants largely put the kibosh on the entire White House social scene for 2021, starting with an inauguration that positioned flags in place of people on the National Mall.

“I think it’s been really tough on them," said Philip Dufour, who was Vice President Al Gore's social secretary. He noted that many events were not held while the president and first lady did others over Zoom.

Major social events scrubbed from the calendar included the White House ball for the nation's governors and the Easter Egg Roll, the second straight year that springtime ritual has been canceled.

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Omicron is latest blow to pandemic-weary front-line workers

BOSTON (AP) — Staff absences for COVID-19 tripled this month in London’s hospitals, and nearly 10% of the city’s firefighters called out sick.

In New York, about 2,700 police officers were absent earlier this week — twice the number who are ill on an average day. And on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, grocery worker Judy Snarsky says she’s stretched to her limit, working 50 hours a week and doing extra tasks because her supermarket has around 100 workers when it should have closer to 150.

“We don’t have enough hands. Everybody is working as much as they physically and mentally can,” the 59-year-old in Mashpee said. “Some of us have been going like a freight train.”

The worldwide surge in coronavirus cases driven by the new omicron variant is the latest blow to hospitals, police departments, supermarkets and other critical operations struggling to maintain a full contingent of front-line workers as the pandemic enters its third year.

Governments have taken steps to stem the bleeding across a range of jobs considered essential for society, from truckers and janitors to child care providers and train conductors. But nurses and other workers worry that continued staffing woes will put the public at greater risk and increase burnout and fatigue among their ranks.

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Judge upholds ruling against NYT over Project Veritas memos

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge has upheld an order preventing The New York Times from publishing documents between conservative group Project Veritas and its lawyer and ruled that the newspaper must immediately relinquish confidential legal memos it obtained.

The decision Thursday by State Supreme Court Justice Charles D. Wood in Westchester County, released Friday, comes in a defamation lawsuit Project Veritas filed against the Times in 2020.

Months after the lawsuit was filed, the newspaper reported that the U.S. Justice Department was investigating Project Veritas in connection with the theft of a diary belonging to Ashley Biden, the president's daughter. In that story, the Times quoted the memos, leading Project Veritas to accuse the newspaper of violating attorney-client privilege.

Wood upheld his earlier order preventing the Times from further publishing the memos, and also ruled that the newspaper must turn over physical copies of the documents and destroy electronic versions.

The newspaper reported it would appeal the ruling and seek a stay in the meantime. Publisher A.G. Sulzberger decried the ruling as an attack of press freedoms and alarming for “anyone concerned about the dangers of government overreach into what the public can and cannot know.” He also said it risked exposing sources.

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EXPLAINER: Are more defendants testifying at trial?

CHICAGO (AP) — Defendants spoke directly to jurors in a series of recent high-profile trials, defying conventional wisdom that the risks of taking the stand usually outweigh the benefits.

Among those who chose to testify was Kim Potter, convicted Thursday of manslaughter for killing Daunte Wright during a traffic stop when the Minnesota police officer mistook her gun for a Taser.

Another was Kyle Rittenhouse, who was acquitted of murder last month for shooting three protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, killing two and wounding a third.

The run of testifying defendants raises the question of whether a shift in thinking is occurring among lawyers, many of whom have long regarded putting clients on the stand as a desperate, last-resort option.

ARE MORE DEFENDANTS TESTIFYING?

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EXPLAINER: How will Biden's COVID-19 test giveaway work?

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says the federal government will buy half a billion COVID-19 rapid test kits and distribute them free of charge to people to use at home. But despite the high public demand for tests, it will still be several more weeks before these kits are available to be shipped. The administration is still working on details for how the program will work.

DOES THE GOVERNMENT HAVE THE TESTS?

Not yet. As of this week, the departments of Defense and Health and Human Services were “executing on what's called an ‘accelerated emergency contract,'" the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, said. The contract is expected to be signed soon.

WHEN WILL THE TEST KITS BE DELIVERED?

The first delivery is expected in early January. All 500 million kits will not arrive at the same time but instead will be delivered in batches.

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Sweet repeat: Brothers regift same hard candy for decades

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Two New Hampshire brothers have gotten their holiday regifting skills down to an art — they've been passing the same hard candy back and forth for over 30 years.

It started in 1987, when Ryan Wasson gave a 10-roll Frankford “Santa's Candy Book" with assorted fruit flavors to his brother, Eric Wasson, as a joke for Christmas, knowing that Eric wouldn't like it.

“I didn't eat them," Eric Wasson told WMUR-TV. “And so the next year I thought, ‘Hey, I think I'm going to give it back to him. He'll never remember.'"

But Ryan immediately recognized it. They've been taking turns ever since, keeping a log of their exchanges. They've gotten creative about it.

Ryan Wasson told the station the candy has been frozen in a block of ice and put in Jell-O, adding, “He one time sewed it into a teddy bear."

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Yes, there is a Santa Claus. And no, COVID-19 won't stop him

PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. (AP) — Rest assured, kids of all ages: Santa’s coming this Christmas Eve, and a second holiday with COVID-19 won’t stop him.

That’s the word from the joint U.S.-Canadian military operation that for 66 years has been tracking Jolly Old St. Nicholas on his global mission and has assured us all — first by land line and more recently by iPhone, Android, OnStar, Facebook, YouTube and more — that he’s on his way with a sleigh stuffed with toys and a welcome dose of joy.

In what’s become its own wildly popular tradition, the Colorado-based North American Aerospace Defense Command provides real-time updates on Santa’s progress Dec. 24, from 4 a.m. to midnight MST. NORAD’s Santa Tracker lets families watch Father Christmas in 3D as he transits the South Pacific, Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.

From deep inside NORAD headquarters, dozens of volunteers field an unrelenting wave of phone calls to 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723). They and other volunteers working off-site because of coronavirus distancing protocols will answer such questions as “When will he come to my house? What kind of cookies does he like?” said program manager and NORAD spokesman Preston Schlachter.

Want to watch? Visit https://www.noradsanta.org, check out #NORADTracksSanta and @NoradSanta on Twitter, or use the associated apps. You can also email noradtrackssanta@outlook.com for the latest.

News from © The Associated Press, 2021