Clear explainer of a very carefully nuanced report. While the main thing to say is "small numbers," it does seem that the average severity among those in the hospital is comparatively low. Two thoughts about interpretation:
https://twitter.com/HelenBranswell/status/1467294212202901505
1/ Omicron growing very fast. Patients hospitalized for COVID are typically (not always) well into their infection. In a fast-growing epidemic, the proportion infected 10d ago, say, is lower on any given day than in a slow-growing one. This alone could cause unusually lo ...
proportion of hospitalizations with primary diagnosis. Fast-growing epidemic = most infections are new is basic demographic theory (just like in a fast-growing population of people, most people are young). The unusually high growth rate can at least partly explain observation.
2/ Commentators note that the population in hospital with SARS-CoV-2 is younger than in the past, and that vaccination is highest in the older ages. This could be evidence that it's milder, as @AmeshAA notes or that vaccines are protective as @MarionKoopmans notes, but...
.. hard to take it as evidence of both. If the older population is protected by vaccine, it would leave only the younger, in whom even earlier variants were comparatively mild. Either vax protection against severe disease, or lower severity in all would be good news.
But if one infers either from the data then there's not much left to support the other. Overall, this is certainly better news than we might have expected with exploding case rates, but apportioning between growth rate, vaccine effect, and lower severity will take more research.
Kudos to @MRCza for getting these important early data out
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