I don't weigh in here much anymore, honestly I don't look at this thread much at all, but I think you're missing the big picture here.
The story isn't that half of hospital COVID cases weren't admitted for COVID. It's that NYS is breaking numbers down into those admitted for COVID and those that tested positive for COVID while admitted for other things. That didn't use to be an issue pre-omicron, because most folks with COVID in the hospital were there because of it. But now, given that everyone and their brother is coming down with omicron, the same can't be said.
So, this is a case of NYS doing exactly what many on here have been asking for, in the name of transparency. And we still get lambasted. This is why I've opted out of this thread.