I suspect the OP does have this right but stranger things have happened. Without wanting to poke the hornets’ nest we have all seen the “I got my dates wrong” thread which I assume 1Aturnleft is alluding to.

I completely concur with the OP about it being well past time for all organisations to stop using the Covid excuse for long wait times but it shows no sign of them doing so. They are all just getting away with it for now. Hopefully commercial pressures will come to bear soon if competitors are doing it better.