When I told people to hold off on applying for US passports unless it was a documented "life and death emergency" since standard applications without such documented emergency tagging were getting sidelined and commonly not being issued, some people were in disbelief.
Here's what was put up on the US State Department's website last week:
Originally Posted by state.gov
If you apply or renew now, you will experience significant delays of several months to receive your U.S. passport and the return of your citizenship evidence documents (such as birth certificates or naturalization certificates). Unless you have a life-or-death emergency, please wait until we resume normal operations to apply for or renew your passport.