Viewpoint: ‘ICUs were empty in NYC and across the US’: RFK, Jr. accuses pro-vaccine liberals of exaggerating the number of COVID deaths

Jeremy Faust | Inside Medicine | August 6, 2026

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*Data: CDC. Image: Jeremy Faust/Inside Medicine. Blue=hospitals, dark blue=at home, green=nursing homes, purple=medical facility (outpatient or ER).*

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told CNN’s Dana Bash that “There were ICUs that were empty all across the country, including in New York, at the height.”

What a patently false, disgusting statement. It’s actually offensive, given the hell on Earth that my New York colleagues in particular endured in late March and April of 2020.

Dana Bash did her best to push back on this and other nonsense Kennedy peddled. But she’s not a public health expert …. This is why platforming grifters is always dangerous. In this case, it’s the Secretary of Health and Human Services, which makes this all incredibly serious.

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Generally, there were around 1,600 ICU beds in New York City prior to the pandemic. On any given week in the pre-pandemic, New York City ICUs were often close to full, if not full. During the pandemic, hospitals scrambled to expand, managing to more than double that capacity to around 3,500.