These medical students spent 75% of their training in the middle of a pandemic, in which they undoubtedly saw a field with an already high burnout rate reach astronomical numbers. I would guess that would make a much greater impact on their career path and quality of life.
No, EM has always been popular but a report 1.5 years ago from one of the National orgs predicted an 8k surplus of EM docs in 10 years, so I think people are hesitant to apply because of that