[throwawayfear]

How much is "a bunch" of hospitals? How are you measuring "more strained" "than they ever were?" Because the evidence I found suggests the situation was overblown:

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/09/covid-hos...

In other words, the study suggests that roughly half of all the hospitalized patients showing up on COVID-data dashboards in 2021 may have been admitted for another reason entirely, or had only a mild presentation of disease.

And we have staff quitting over the mandates. Which is causing service shortages in NYC now.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-york-hospital-pause...

An upstate New York hospital system said it will be forced to "pause" maternity services this month because some employees' refusal to get vaccinated against Covid-19 has caused staffing shortages.

[ezekiel68]

How much is "a bunch" of hospitals?

A fair criticism. Let's survey several US states and major metro areas to get a better idea, using sources not more than 30 days old:

Colorado: “The burden of the unvaccinated on our hospitals is profound”[0]

[0] https://coloradosun.com/2021/09/10/coronavirus-hospital-icu-...

Washington: Local Hospitals at ICU Capacity; ICU Nurses Resigning [1]

[1] https://keprtv.com/news/local/local-hospitals-at-icu-capacit...

Alabama: "On Wednesday [Sept 8], Alabama's hospitals had 2,724 people with COVID-19, according to the Alabama Hospital Association. There were 68 more patients than available ICU beds in the state that day." [2]

[2] https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2021/09/09/u...

North Carolina: "We can’t transfer anywhere all hospitals are in the same situation" [3]

[3] https://myfox8.com/news/coronavirus/randolph-health-hits-icu...

Illinois: "Herrmann told the radio station that the majority of those critical COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated, and said the effect on staffed ICU beds is negatively impacting other patients who need critical care." [4]

[4]https://www.wpsdlocal6.com/coronavirus_news/idph-reports-zer...

I'm no expert on what is "a bunch", but I feel pretty certain the above examples (out of many more) have, together, met the threshold.

[mike00632]

Remember when FEMA had to send 85 refrigerator trucks to NYC to serve as temporary morgues?

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/fema-is-sending-85-refrige...

[throwawayfear]

Remember when NYC sent the USNS Comfort back, after having treated fewer than 180 patients?

https://www.businessinsider.com/usns-comfort-nyc-coronavirus...

But yeah, bringing things back to this source:

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/09/covid-hos...

In other words, the study suggests that roughly half of all the hospitalized patients showing up on COVID-data dashboards in 2021 may have been admitted for another reason entirely, or had only a mild presentation of disease.

I remember 2020. It was a brutal and frightening year for everyone because we had never experienced this before. Hospitals that were not equipped for any serious wave of a more infectious respiratory virus got slammed. I think they did the right thing to send refrigerator trucks as temporary morgues and scale up tent operations and even send in the USNS Comfort just in case. Hospitals got slammed for a variety of reason. Part of it was part poor planning, part new situation straining existing supply chains (which we're still reeling from), and part covid.

The evidence now, as of 2021 like in the article in the parent comment, suggests that half of the hospitalizations in 2021 were overblown though. I wonder what the media narrative about covid would be like if this information propagated throughout.

[mike00632]

I had a friend deployed on the Comfort at the time and your understanding is completely wrong. The ship wasn't there to treat COVID cases (remember that it's an enclosed space with poor air ventilation).

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/hospital-ship-usns-comf...

And why bring it up? Do you really expect us to forget that hospitals were overrun with COVID and so many people are dying that morgues are overrun?

You're trying to make a completely dishonest argument in saying that hospitals aren't overrun when they most certainly are. We can't even handle all the dead bodies. IT'S A CALAMITY IN AND OF ITSELF THAT WE CAN'T HANDLE ALL THE DEAD BODIES.

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/louisiana-doctors-struggle-cov...

https://www.ksla.com/2021/08/25/covid-19-icu-beds-arkansas-n...