Idaho public health officials announced Sept. 7 that they activated “crisis standards of care” allowing health care rationing for the state’s northern hospitals because there are more coronavirus patients than the institutions can handle. Idaho has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the U.S. Developments there related to the COVID-19 pandemic are indicative of the process underway all across the U.S., to a greater or lesser degree.
The state health agency cited “a severe shortage of staffing and available beds in the northern area of the state caused by a massive increase in patients with COVID-19 who require hospitalization.”
