[peter422]

There have been numerous studies showing that omicron severity is very likely equivalent to prior strains.

The decrease in serious illness is due to prior immunity and vaccination.

Though it’s obviously a hard thing to prove either way. But certainly I do not think it should be assumed that omicron is inherently more mild.

[ramraj07]

Can you provide some citations? My understanding is that omicron and prior strains have fundamentally different effects especially wrt synctia formation.

[peter422]

https://academic.oup.com/jid/advance-article-abstract/doi/10...

Here is recent, high quality one, but there are many more (and some with conflicting results - but to my eye the best studies all point to similar conclusions).