Yes, they have. The impacts are far wider than they expected,...

Yes, they have. The impacts are far wider than they expected, eg, people off work, people closing businesses, people staying home and saving their money. With half the health workers off work, care is likely to be reduced, possibly leading to more severe illness than otherwise. Whether it will translate into more deaths is another matter. One expert the other day observed that while Omicron was milder than Delta, it is only 20-30% milder. And ofc, about half of the current hospitalisations are still Delta - the Omicron hospitalisations so far are from people who caught it three weeks ago.