Number 5 ain't wrong. My mom had to go to the hospital after christmas (not covid related). She needed an ICU bed. Our podunk country hospital doesn't have an ICU. All 5 hospitals within an hour's drive were full. She stayed in the ER almost all afternoon & night before doctors finally found a bed for her at a hospital 2.5 hours away. And the ER I mentioned...it was so damn full that people were having to wait in their vehicles or were turned away b/c their symptoms (of what, idk) weren't serious enough. I've never seen anything like that at our local hospital.
In our case, it was definitely beds that were full. Mom was in ICU room 1 so we had to walk past all the other rooms (with glass doors) to get there. I guess we just got lucky that they had enough staff on hand. They were busy but patients seemed to be cared for.
It's sad though, what you/FIL experienced--beds available but nobody to care for people. I hope nothing else like this ever happens again in our lifetimes. Just visiting ICU was sad. Some rooms I'd walk by the patient would be like my mom...conscious, kinda sitting up, watching tv or finishing the cookie that came with lunch that day. Other rooms had unconscious patients with tubes & lines coming out of every conceivable orifice. I wanted to respect everyone's privacy--to not look--but it was my first time visiting an ICU & the curiosity got the best of me. I just pray all those people recovered from whatever they were suffering from & were able to go back home.