==> Good News: Research is agreeing with anecdotal evidence that Omicron symptoms are much milder than those of Delta.
"Risks in the ... Omicron cohort ... were consistently less than half those in the Delta cohort: Emergency Department visit--4.55% vs. 15.22% ...; hospitalization--1.75% vs. 3.95% ...; ICU admission--0.26% vs. 0.78% ...; mechanical ventilation: 0.07% vs. 0.43% .... "
==> Bad News: But Omicron isn't mild for hospitals - or people who depend on them.
“Already, this surge is pushing their hospitals to the edge. And this is just the beginning.”
“By the end of the month, according to the CDC’s forecasts, COVID will be sending at least 24,700 and up to 53,700 Americans to the hospital every single day.”
“Omicron’s main threat is its extreme contagiousness. It is infecting so many people that even if a smaller proportion need hospital care, the absolute numbers are still enough to saturate the system.”
“To be clear, these problems are not affecting just COVID patients, but all patients.”
“I don’t think people will realize what’s happening until we fall off that cliff—until you call 911 and no one comes, or you need that emergency surgery and we can’t do it,” Swaminathan said.”
The Atlantic - January 7, 2022
==> Future News: Anticipating the future of Omicron and what might come next.
"Omicron triumphed over delta — another fast-spreading and most prevalent variant — because it spreads so quickly. While delta settles in the lungs, omicron favors the upper airways, where it can spew out copies of itself while we talk and breathe. Its incubation period is only three days, compared to 4.3 days for delta and five days for other variants. It also is more likely than other variants to be asymptomatic; rather than lying in bed, infected people tend to feel fine or only slightly ill, and spread it.”
"In the U.S., experts predict that we’ll see a precipitous decline in omicron cases starting the third or fourth week in January, if we follow trends seen in South Africa, Denmark and the United Kingdom. By mid-February, omicron will recede. But that isn’t necessarily cause to celebrate."