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But hospitalizations are higher than last year's winter peak, so hospitals are still slammed (not everywhere, but in a lot of places).

Also there's been a lot of doctors and nurses that have left the profession this past year from burnout (and not enough people champing at the bit to take their place...for obvious reasons) so many places were short-staffed to begin with.

Isn't that what they said? Less severe, more widespread.

> so the overall effect is as bad as delta and alpha

I took the overall effect to mean deaths. Based on CDC statements, it seems like they are finally trying to divide hospitalized “from” vs. “with”. I’d expect a more contagious variant to show up more in hospitals for people who have come for unrelated reasons.

Omicron does seems to be less severe. But don't forget deaths are a lagging indicator. They usually trail case counts by a few weeks.