As an ER doctor, I fear health care collapse more than Omicron

AS THE Omicron tsunami crashes ashore in New York City, the comforting news that this variant generally causes milder disease overlooks the unfolding tragedy happening on the front lines. As an emergency room doctor fighting this new surge, I am grateful that vaccines and a potentially less lethal variant have meant that fewer of my patients today need life support than they did at the start of the pandemic.

In March 2020, nurses and doctors rushed between patients, endlessly trying to stabilise one before another crashed. Many of my patients needed supplemental oxygen and the sickest needed to be put on ventilators. Many never came off them. Our intensive care units filled beyond capacity, and yet patients kept coming.

Thankfully, this wave is not like that. I haven't needed to put any Covid-19 patients on a ventilator so far. And the majority of patients haven't needed supplemental oxygen, either.