Why does S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 freeze for 0.5s when entering new regions?

While traversing the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, loading new areas causes 0.5s freezes, which is a terrible experience. I tried enabling Windows Fast Startup, but it didn't improve loading times at all, which was a pointless attempt. I then used the GamePP Resource Scheduler to set the game's I/O priority to High and cleared bus bandwidth. RTSS showed frame times dropped to 15-22ms, Task Manager confirmed CPU usage at 75-82%, and LatencyMon recorded I/O latency at 120-180ms.