10 days ago, actually:
Now, of course because deaths are a lagging indicator, this means that deaths for this wave are still yet to peak, but deaths are way down for this wave in South Africa:
Obviously deaths will move higher, given that deaths peak 1-2 weeks (sometimes more) after cases do, but it seems unlikely this wave of omicron will cause anywhere near as many deaths as the previous two waves of Covid.
And this does mean that omicron is extremely mild. It does not mean that the vaccines have successfully blunted the severity of Covid.
South Africa is, right now, only 26% fully vaccinated as a nation:
There’s no way you can credit vaccines here. Proponents of the vaccines themselves said we needed upwards of 85-90% of the population vaccinated and boosted.
Google tracks data for booster shot uptake as well, and I don’t see anything on South Africa’s chart for booster shot uptake rate. Reuters reported that South Africa just authorized the booster shot rollout on Friday.
It’s not the vaccine. Omicron is just extremely mild.