[gottorf]

> Hospitals are even more understaffed now than they were before the pandemic

BLS doesn't agree with you[0]. After a big drop with Covid, when a bunch of older hospital workers decided it would be a good time to retire, the employment number matched pre-Covid figures by late 2022, and exceeds it now.

> anti-vaccine hysteria has gone mainstream

Rates of typical childhood vaccination (like MMR, DTaP, etc.) dipped only a little, from 95% pre-pandemic to 93% in 2023[1], so there's no evidence to suggest that anti-vaccine hysteria is "mainstream". And I would wager that the 2% difference can be largely attributed to, again, the poor public health policy choices surrounding Covid.

[0]: https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES6562200001?amp%253bdata_t...

[1]: https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/headed-...

[dragonwriter]

> > Hospitals are even more understaffed now than they were before the pandemic

> BLS doesn't agree with you[0]. After a big drop with Covid, when a bunch of older hospital workers decided it would be a good time to retire, the employment number matched pre-Covid figures by late 2022, and exceeds it now.

If demand is higher for care, they could have more total employment and still be more understaffed.

[gottorf]

Good point. I wonder if there is data for that. Maybe the number of insurance claims?