(Bloomberg) — Idaho, among the least vaccinated U.S. states, has returned to rationing hospital care as Covid-19 omicron cases stretch capacity, sicken health care staff and blood supplies run low, officials said Tuesday.
Crisis standards of care were implemented in southern Idaho on Monday and could be expanded to other parts of the state in a matter of days, Dave Jeppesen, director of the state Department of Health and Welfare, said during an on-line briefing. “It will not surprise me,” he said.
The percentage of people testing positive for Covid-19 in some Idaho emergency rooms has been “north of 60%” Jeppesen said. Five percent is considered acceptable. The statewide positivity rate is 34.1%, Jeppensen said.
Idaho resorted to statewide rationing late last year during the delta variant surge.
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