Hospitals are often very full, long before all of this. Both my son and I have had to spend up to 48 hours waiting in the halls before being admitted or taken to another hospital. My son was once triaged in the ER waiting area with a severe head injury and barely able to walk and was sent home. He has epilepsy and several brain injuries, so new head injuries are especially dangerous. He had to give his Social Security number and other private info with people all around who could hear everything.

Those of us who are chronically and/or terminally ill have been avoiding all hospitals, doctors, tests, labs, etc. I have a patient's org so I know thousands of ill/disabled people. We usually only go to the hospital if we're very near death. I have a ton of MRIs, labs, tests, specialists, etc., I need to do/see, but am postponing as long as possible.

That poor paralyzed guy in the article, he could die from infection. My last hospital stay was awful, I could hear people screaming and crying all night. Welcome to 3rd world health 'care'.