The latest South Africa covid stats:

The tsunami is arriving for hospitals.

A huge number of the vulnerable are already dead. You can't infect a dead person twice. The vast majority who survived it or got vaccinated will have some level of immunity and most likely enough to prevent severe illness.

looks like good news - case rate max similar to previous peaks but death rates much lower. Also, case rate is dropping quickly.

I’m double-vaxxed and boosted, never stopped wearing masks, started wearing N95 as soon as I heard the slightest peep about Omicron. I think the news that Omicron is less severe is GREAT news. Why this is always met with “yeah but way more contagious so we’re still screwed” is a bit frustrating. Like we’re not allowed to see any light or we’re in “denial”.

I work for a hospital and I’ve heard relief from nurses and doctors that their patients are no longer dying left and right. Is the load going to be worse? Maybe, but if it’s regular hospital beds versus ICU that means a larger patient per staff ratio. And, again, the mental anguish of working so hard to save a patient only to see that patient die turning into just being exhausted due to # of patients but they are surviving and going home seems a better trade off.

Omicron is here and we can’t change that. So can we multitask and be grateful it’s not as severe while also being dismayed at the contagiousness?