With more than 500 people hospitalized with COVID-19, Idaho officials made the decision to enact crisis standards of care on Monday. “It means we have exhausted our resources to the point that our health care systems are unable to provide the treatment and care we expect," Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Director Dave Jeppesen said in a statement. The state's crisis guidelines give hospitals a legal and ethical framework for rationing care. Oregon is also running out of intensive care unit beds due to record high hospitalizations for COVID-19. Cases are also overwhelming hospitals in Mississippi, the state with the nation’s lowest COVID-19 vaccination rate. (Medscape article, 9/7/21)
