I see what you mean now. I think the sense of urgency placed by politicians is in the right place- some understand that hospitalizations at time t (now) need t

I see what you mean now. I think the sense of urgency placed by politicians is in the right place- some understand that hospitalizations at time t (now) need to be controlled, and they've simplified the language to seem as if they are concerned about infections at this very instance for the sake of brevity. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that reducing infections RIGHT NOW directly leads to reducing hospitalizations, so I can't blame politicians for mixing up the language.