> For the majority of us the virus poses no danger.

It does if emergency services and ICUs are at capacity and nobody can get treated for anything or medical personnel is so overworked they make mistakes or burn out.

That is basically what has happened anyway, at least to health services in the UK (and more specifically, in Wales where I live). Covid cases make up a very small proportion of total patients, total patient numbers are significantly lower than average for the time of year (and that has been true since March 2020), yet you cannot now get an ambulance unless you are essentially dying, and availability of routine healthcare (at least, what NHS normally offered) has nosedived.

Source of this claim with the new variant?

This number of mutations isn't enough to completely change the mechanics of the virus. It's still the same thing in different clothing which might be enough to pass through the vaccine firewall, but the lethality won't be much different. I don't have to be a biologist to apply basic logic.

> This number of mutations isn't enough to completely change the mechanics of the virus.

One mutation can be enough, if its the right mutation.

> I don't have to be a biologist to apply basic logic.

Basic logic only helps if you start with accurate premises, which having an understanding of the relevant biology helps a lot with. Otherwise, you end up with GIGO.

> I don't have to be a biologist to apply basic logic.

Biology doesn't really work like that. The number of rules is vastly smaller than the number of exceptions to them.

> This number of mutations isn't enough to completely change the mechanics of the virus.

Maybe. Maybe not. The majority of the mutations in the B.1.1.529 genome are expressed as changes in the spike proteins but others are not and remain to be better understood. It is too early to tell what effects those remaining mutations will have on the lethality of this variant. If those mutations result in more efficient intracellular replication or other changes in intracellular viral life-cycle efficiency, then the morbidity and mortality may be greater, independent of immunologic escape.

well at least you're not making sweeping generalizations with no references/citations/sources on a field of research you admittedly aren't a part of...