https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-coronavirus-hospitalizat...
It varies widely by state/county, etc, but in most of the US, hospitalizations were pretty low still in April. The first peak was around August which was my experience, and the second peak was around January 2021.
So as far as "A bunch of medical professionals shaking in their shoes waiting for something that never came", they were waiting for what was actually coming.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/figures/mm7112e2-F1-l...
https://calmatters.org/health/coronavirus/2020/06/california...
Number of patients in April peaked around 3000, then August around 7000, then Jan 2021 around 21,000.