Pandemic fatigue + a very contagious variant that is less virulent. A lower rate of people are getting hospitalized (and often require a lower level of care), b

Pandemic fatigue + a very contagious variant that is less virulent. A lower rate of people are getting hospitalized (and often require a lower level of care), but the massive number of people getting infected is still driving high hospital utilization. Omicron is being called 'mild', but it's not mild for a lot of people in absolute terms (even though it may be milder compared to what earlier variants might have been for that individual).