COVID surge pushes much of Idaho toward medical rationing

By REBECCA BOONE
Associated Press

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho’s public health officials say crisis standards of care are imminent for the state’s most populated region as hospitals continue to be overrun with unvaccinated coronavirus patients. Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Director Dave Jeppesen says southern Idaho including the Boise metro area could join northern Idaho in health care rationing at any moment. Last week, the state formally enacted “crisis standards of care” in northern Idaho, giving overwhelmed hospitals permission to direct scarce resources like intensive care unit beds to the patients most likely to survive. At Kootenai Health in Coeur d’Alene, some coronavirus patients are being treated in a field hospital at a conference center.