Accordingly, I still have troubles understanding when the blocksize and/or scaling issues are presented as "an emergency."
Do you understand the principle of non-parallel lines in a two-dimensional cartesian coordinate system?
No. I don't understand: "non-parallel lines in a two-dimensional cartesian coordinate system."
It will only take a few more months before the lines will cross. I wouldn't call that a long way off. And rolling out a hard fork takes time. So yes, time is running out fast.
The lines will not cross because it is a hard limit so that is mathematically impossible. The bottom line will curve and asymptote up to the top line as elastic demand is forced off the network. It may at best become tangent to it.
"The lines cross and omg! catastrophe happens" is the sophisticated wrapper around the bullshit argument "nobody goes there any more because it is too popular".