Should we welcome Omicron?

The BBC reports:

People catching Omicron are 50% to 70% less likely to need hospital care compared with previous variants, a major analysis says.

The UK Health Security Agency says its early findings are “encouraging” but the variant could still lead to large numbers of people in hospital.

The health secretary said it was “too early” to determine “next steps”.

It’s still a bit early to judge, but a number of countries are reporting that the hospitalisation (and death) rates from the Omicron variant are between 20% and 80% less than the Delta variant.

If it is established that the difference is at the higher end (70% to 80% less severe), then is there a case for letting Omicron into New Zealand? Wouldn’t it be better to have people exposed to a variant 70% less likely to kill or hospitalise you than the Delta variant?