The Omicron variant is hitting Oklahoma hard and creating troubles unseen in earlier surges

Oklahoma recorded some of its highest daily case counts of the pandemic in the past week. You wouldn’t think so, just looking around. Virtually no mask mandates in businesses or cities. Many employers requiring in-person work. Schools and universities welcoming all of their students back to the physical classroom. But health officials say new issues have cropped up this time: more dire work shortages, new causes for vaccine hesitancy and hospitals already strained by other viruses.