Reopening problems: Omicron less dangerous but more contagious

THE Hunter's Omicron outbreak exposes the conundrum at the heart of the effort to control COVID-19.

On one hand, available evidence indicates the burden of illness, population-wide, is less than Delta and perhaps less than the original virus.

Mild or not, Omicron is putting people in hospital.

Already, a combination of patient load and staff shortages - including 140 from John Hunter in mandatory isolation - has forced NSW Health to declare a statewide hospital "code red".

This system was explained at the previous peak in September, with code red indicating "severe impact" with demand exceeding "operational ICU capacity".

It's the third of four levels, one below "code black", which is "overwhelming" impact on ICU and demand for critical care "significantly" exceeding the state health system's capacity.

This is not the situation that Australians expected as they lined up to be vaccinated, with 90.1 per cent of those 16 and over now double-dosed.

It is surely not what National Cabinet was expecting when the roadmap to reopening was drawn up.

Yet a week out from Christmas, Premier Dominic Perrottet appears determined to remain as hands-off as possible, even as case numbers hit record levels.

Mr Perrottet has a point when he urges the media to report hospitalisations alongside case numbers.

Yesterday NSW had 2213 new cases and 215 people in hospital - 24 of those in ICU and 12 on ventilators.

By contrast, when the previous wave topped out at 1602 new cases on September 10 (40 per cent below yesterday), the hospital load peaked about 10 days later at 1268, with 242 in ICU and 123 ventilated.

So, yes, hospital numbers are down, but they are not the full measure of things.

Mr Perrottet defends the government's position by saying we all knew cases would rise upon reopening.

As treasurer he was known to have pushed for an earlier end to lockdowns than Gladys Berejiklian. But as treasurer it was his job to look after the financial side.

As premier he has a much wider set of responsibilities to consider.

There is little point allowing people to plan for major gatherings if they face 11^th hour public health order cancellations, as happened with this weekend's Lunar Electric music festival.

Overall, we are clearly more fortunate than most countries, but we risk losing that advantage if the final outcome is to let COVID run.

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COLLATERAL DAMAGE: Lunar electric managing director Simon Leigh with co-director Shaun Dunn during setup for the Lunar Electric music festival at Nobbys Beach. A late casualty of Newcastle's Omicron outbreak and a sad sign of the difficulties the state is facing even with a national vaccination rate of 90.1 per cent of the population 16 and over. Picture: Marina Neil.