Less deadly than delta? In some states, omicron caused more deaths

 New research shows that wasn't always the case. When the omicron variant first emerged last November, many doctors, researchers and scientists hoped that the new strain — while more transmissible — would cause fewer deaths. Indeed, early research suggested that though omicron spread much faster than the delta variant, it appeared to cause less severe disease. But in Massachusetts, omicron had a much deadlier impact than delta — and in a shorter period of time.  But The data, which is preliminary, looked only at Massachusetts, meaning the findings may not extend to other states, where demographics and Covid vaccine rates may differ. Roughly 80 percent of the Massachusetts’s population has had two doses of a vaccine, according to state data. And the data alone is unable to explain why Massachusetts, among the states with the highest Covid vaccination rates, experienced a higher than expected number of deaths during the omicron wave compared to delta.