Bollocks
I have been in my local hospital in the UK and its almost closed...the only section open is for covid patients, they are working at around 15% capacity max
A lot has to do with how beds are allocated. They use the term ICU beds, when the beds used for Covid patients are more specialized than that.
For example, based on real statistics from the State of New Mexico's own website. There are 2.1 million people in the state.
There are ~3000 total hospital beds in the state.
410 of those are ICU beds capable of severe respiratory illness patients. ~100 ICU beds have been "updated" to care for Covid patients.
Out of the ~2500 normal beds, 42% are currently being used; which peaked at 57% in August 2020. Normal load for a non-Covid year is at LEAST 65-70%.
ICU beds are at 72% currently; peaked at 87% in November 2020. Normal load for non-Covid year is at LEAST 70%.
The State of New Mexico does NOT state how may of the ICU beds are Covid patients, it is assumed ALL of them are.
It is really strange how small this issue is when you look at the numbers. Most hospitals are still not allowing certain procedures.
In my County there are ~160k people. For this County there are 206 normal beds and 24 ICU beds. That's correct, 24.
Out of the 24 ICU beds, currently there are 10.4 beds being used.
For a state of 2+ million, there are ~500 ICU beds capable of handling Covid. They have yet to run out of beds or supplies.
There are currently ~240 people in ICU from Covid.
Think about that for a second.
Our entire state has been shut down for 8 months.
There are ZERO plans to expand the healthcare sector of the state for emergency service or future service.It's almost like there is no need for more beds.