Couple of points in the US. Hospital staff, particularly nurses:

Have quit because of terminal burnout / overwork

Have quit because of mask mandates

Have died because of Covid

Have had permanent injuries due to Covid, or are suffering from Long Covid symptoms and cannot work

Have left hospital nursing and went to work for a private practice or other less-stressful job.

All of this has led to the current shortage of nurses in the US. Now with fewer nurses to actually do the work, two things are happening:

1. Hospitals cannot fill up to the capacity of the number of beds they have. They can only fill to a certain ratio of nurses to patients. There may be unused beds in a hospital, but they cannot have a patient in them because there is no one to take care of them.

2. The remaining nurses are being worked harder and harder, leading to more burnout and more nurses leaving. This is a snowball effect that can only get worse as time goes on. The head of Alabama's medical system had a press conference last week and was in tears, saying "We don't know how much longer we can do this."

I've seen two postings for my area for nursing staff. They paid anywhere from $135 to $150 per hour, guaranteed at least 48 hours a week of work. No interview needed. You walk in, show them your credentials, get your paperwork filled out, and you get on the schedule. You are hired. They cannot fill all the available positions at $150 an hour.

Repeat: They cannot fill all the available positions at $150 an hour.