>As for people running for hospitals, a primary reason (as per a doctor who treated my dad for Covid) is that people are ignoring symptoms for days (over a week at times) after which virus does enough damage that only option they're left with is getting oxygen assistance.
Hospitals will give the same protocol as people are following at home. In fact add the empathetic environment of home with proper food (compared to the sheer lack of care in any hospital right now), and people are recovering faster at home. Yes, there are many cases though where people had serious damage and they neglected to go early. Just saying this issue is complicated and I can understand why someone would hesitate to go to a hospital with 99F fever and slight bodyache.
And none these vultures in the media will talk about it because it does not fit their agenda.
I noticed a slow but steady rise in cases in Maharashtra since mid-February. A few reports suggested something was brewing in the Nagpur/Vidharbha region. No one paid any attention to it because of the war between the State and Center on the police corruption/extortion issue.
Soon, cases started appearing in Kerala and Punjab. Only THEN did other states start reporting cases in massive numbers. Did religious events and election rallies have an impact? Of course. But that came weeks later.
I still see public ignoring safety norms like nothing has happened.
As for people running for hospitals, a primary reason (as per a doctor who treated my dad for Covid) is that people are ignoring symptoms for days (over a week at times) after which virus does enough damage that only option they're left with is getting oxygen assistance.