A report released this morning from Tshwane indicates most patients in hospital were incidentally diagnosed with Covid. That is, they weren't admitted due to Covid, they merely tested positive for it because of mandatory testing in hospital settings. The average time of stay is three times shorter than that of previous Covid waves (2.8 vs. 8.3 days). Oxygen is in low demand and no one so far is in ICU with pneumonia from Covid.
Still too early to tell if this is due to Omicron actually being milder or the fact most people were already exposed to Covid means the disease looks milder, but better than reading about the opposite happening.
Another study found out that the 'EPE' insertion in the Omicron strain's NTD might have come from a seasonal coronavirus, HCoV-229E, with unknown effects. But some speculate it *might* be an adaptation favoring upper respiratory tract infections in humans.
