Researchers find those who test positive with new Covid variant up to 25% less likely to attend hospital at all
www.theguardian.com
40% less overnight stays. That's really good.
However, balancing that out is the rate of spread of Omicron appears greater than 140%* compared to Delta.
Hence we're still heading for NHS overload if the transmission rates stay as they are.
It's basically a race of booster versus Omicron - an estimated 200k Omicron infections per day versus 1m boosters + ~10 days whilst it kicks in.
In my area quite a lot of people continue to take reasonable precautions (masking up, meeting outside, keeping rooms ventilated, etc), which should help dampen the transmission a little. I'm glad they're bothering.
Fingers crossed for you all over Xmas.
(*From the same article: 'NHS England also said 301 Covid admissions were recorded by hospitals in London on 20 December, up 78% week on week...')