Hospitals fill up every winter from respiratory viruses. The healthcare system is designed to fill up. There's no point having expensive rooms, machines, and staff sitting idle. Planners forecast seasonal requirements and build healthcare around the maximum.
We're probably going to see increased demands on hospitals simply due to the larger numbers of old people.
For example, 2009 Swine Flu (remember that?) is about as deadly as 2020 COVID. But now in eg. the USA, there are 2.9m 80-84 year old men (elderly men are in the prime risk category for COVID deaths), compared to 2.3m in 2009:
These demographic trends were exacerbated by weak flu seasons in 2018 and 2019.
Crises always bring light to pre-existing failures in systems. COVID is simply exposing Western societies as aged, overweight, and Vitamin-D deficient.
We're probably going to see increased demands on hospitals simply due to the larger numbers of old people.
For example, 2009 Swine Flu (remember that?) is about as deadly as 2020 COVID. But now in eg. the USA, there are 2.9m 80-84 year old men (elderly men are in the prime risk category for COVID deaths), compared to 2.3m in 2009:
https://www.populationpyramid.net/united-states-of-america/2...
These demographic trends were exacerbated by weak flu seasons in 2018 and 2019.
Crises always bring light to pre-existing failures in systems. COVID is simply exposing Western societies as aged, overweight, and Vitamin-D deficient.