A few notes:
Today’s NYTs daily email suggests that it’s pretty conclusive that Omicron is different.
Different does mean less severe, but still at risk of overwhelming hospitals in sheer numbers due to increased transmission.
Specifically, many hospital admissions for beds (many discharged after 1-3 days, non-ICU/ventilated, which in a sense requires more beds/staffing/resources than ICU
CDC retracted its 73% estimate on Omicron prevalence nationally. And while prevalence in some parts of the US (NYC-area/FL and elsewhere is 90%+), in some cases Delta is still very significant. One reason for this might be that higher vaccination rate in some areas leads to less Delta breakthrough, making Omicron king even among the vaccinated that manage to avoid Delta. The same doesn’t hold true in areas with less vaccination.
With lower Delta prevalence in some areas, people in those areas are risking Delta infection, not “just” Omicron infection by avoiding precautions (including choosing not to vaccinate).
Additionally, in areas with lower Omicron prevalence, doctors struggle to triage whether any given patient has Delta or Omicron, as treatments and optimal protocols differ between those two variants