COVID-19 surge, Omicron Variant, dim holiday spirits

New York City faces a blight Christmas.

A record surge in COVID-19 cases, a sudden wave of major event cancelations and the specter of new mandates and shutdowns have dimmed holiday spirits.

“This Christmas is a lot more stressful and less enjoyable,” Hilary Lariviere, 28, visiting from Rhode Island, said Saturday at Bryant Park. “I do not feel safe walking around in crowds. I do not trust humanity. I don’t know who is vaccinated. It’s not like what it used to be.”

President Biden is set to speak to the nation Tuesday about the country’s “fight against COVID-19” amid rising cases of the Omicron variant, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.

But in the Big Apple, the magic of the holidays is already lacking.

The Rockettes announced Friday they had canceled their Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular shows through the end of the year.

On Broadway, “Jagged Little Pill,” which had canceled its Thursday performance, will now stay closed through Tuesday, according to Playbill.com, the latest show to do so.

Insiders say the Great White Way isn’t yet planning a full shutdown — such as the one that left shows dark for much of 2020 — and instead will leave individual productions to close and reopen as needed.The Broadway League has created a web site, BwayToday.com, to let theatergoers know of cancellations.

The big question for many is whether the show the industry has been waiting for, “The Music Man” with Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster, begins previews as planned on Monday, a source said.

While Broadway holds its breath, local sports teams are dealing with their own COVID situations.

The New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets now have a combined 14 players on their COVID lists, after each added players to it on Saturday. The Giants canceled full practice Friday amid a COVID outbreak, while the NFL reports that more than 100 players have tested positive for the virus this week.

And “Saturday Night Live” canceled its in-person audience for this weekend’s production of the venerable sketch comedy following a COVID outbreak that swept through the cast.

“Everyone is fearful here,” an SNL insider told The Post.

The chain of events comes as the state reported 21,908 new COVID cases Friday, the highest single-day total yet in the two-year pandemic. The CDC estimates that 13 percent of new COVID cases are the Omicron variant. The number of confirmed Omicron cases in NYC stood at 192 Saturday.

New York City hospitals say they are treating an…