"so few" ... yet enough that our area stayed in maximum stage for an awful long time after case counts came down because the ICU system was so clogged by the unvaccinated.

The lag was because a lot of those people left in body bags. And the ones who survived left in pretty bad shape.

Omicron may not be as fatal percentage-wise, but it's still plenty fatal and a LOT more contagious so it's got numbers on its side.