Of course they were. Hospitals around me had nothing to do, but they sure made an obstructionist mess over dealing with general admissions for run of the mill services. It was ridiculous. I had to have a pacemaker implanted and it was a whole month with the phone by my side waiting for the call.
Most the nurses and staff were too busy with Covid mandates than to see patients. So stupid. But the federal government was giving them fists of cash to comply with emergency covid measures.