I told them the only reason my mother was in the hospital was because hospice had not yet delivered the equipment needed to keep her out of hospital and that I brought her there because, while I know her time here is likely not long, I didn’t want her to die while choking for breath. I told them that once she was stabilized later that day, I’d be taking her home. I also said their sister’s medical resource-intensive hospitalization was, to be blunt, almost certainly avoidable. Then I thought about how many other similar discussions might be going on outside hospitals at that very moment, given reports about non-urgent treatments and surgeries being postponed due to the variant’s surge.

The man glared at me awhile and said, “You might be right. We’re just angry. Life isn’t supposed to be this hard.”