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(Credit: WINK News) COVID-19 cases are rising all across southwest Florida, but that isn’t stopping some businesses from continuing with events planned for New Year’s Eve. Most places are carrying on with their new year’s eve plans. WINK News called 18 places on Tuesday that have an event or special celebration planned; more than half of them said New Year’s Eve is a go. The biggest threat to New Year’s Eve is the omicron variant spreading rapidly through Southwest Florida. Lee Health’s Dr. Larry Antonucci said, “the spread that we’ve seen just in the past couple of weeks is significant, and it’s real. And as much as we’re not happy about it, it’s here.” Omicron is the guest no one wants to serve at their holiday party, but the show must go on for many local events. “We are so excited about New Year’s Eve this year. We have five different performance areas, we have live music, we have DJs, we have fireworks, and we have a ball drop,” said Lisa Sbuttoni with the River District Alliance. Sbuttoni is talking about the downtown countdown in Fort Myers. As for covid safety measures? She hopes by this point, people know what they’re comfortable with. “I mean, the last three years have been a concern for all of us. And we just hope that people that do come out have taken their precautions.” Precautions like the ones at Jimmy P’s in Bonita Springs. “All my staff are vaccinated,” said Jimmy P’s General Manager, Michel Carbonneau. New Year’s Eve is in full swing at their restaurant, and it’s looking to be a busy night. Carbonneau said, “beautiful night. And reservation is probably recommended. We already, we have only few places left.” Dr. Antonucci said right now, it’s a lot easier to get a vaccine than a COVID test. People had to wait for hours in lines across the community, but with the spread happening so fast, Dr. Antonucci said that could cause the virus to burn out because there’s no one left to infect. Still, he said anything we can do to slow down the spread is in everyone’s best interest.