So, supposedly, Colonial paid the ransom "within hours after the attack". And, supposedly, the attack didn't even hit any ICS, just the payment infrastructure ( https://www.zdnet.com/article/colonial-pipeline-ransomware-a... ). Why are there still gas shortages 6 days later?

Not a rhetorical question at all. To me, the idea that the infrastructure we rely on is controlled by middle managers with no sense of urgency and no grasp of their domain looks like the real fridge horror story here. On the other hand, I have learnt better than to trust everything I read in the press; thus the supposedlies. Either way, "the decryption tool is slow" is not an excuse to not deliver essential supplies.