There are some yet unconfirmed reports that the omicron variant is less severe. This seems to be leading some people into a possible false sense of security. We just don’t know yet. What we do know is that it’s far, far more infectious. Even if it turns out that it’s less deadly, which might statistically be the case given the vaccine uptake, the extreme high transmissibility of this variant poses the problem of hospitals being overwhelmed by those that will need care. Being in such a bad way with covid that hospital admission is needed must be traumatic enough, without being queued on a gurney in the hospital car park.