On Thursday, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare announced it had activated crisis standards of care statewide as hospitals in southwest and south central Idaho became overrun with COVID-19 patients, nearly all of whom are unvaccinated. Crisis standards for north Idaho have been in place since Sept. 6.

The crisis standards of care designation allows hospitals to operate with higher nurse-to-patient ratios and helps providers prioritize which patients receive limited resources, depending on how ill they are, and their chances of survival. It also means that some patients are being treated in makeshift patient care centers set up in classrooms or conference rooms. This affects all patients seeking care, not just those infected with COVID.

While ICU bed availability varies hour by hour, as patients are admitted, discharged, or die, at multiple times over the last week, there were fewer than 10 fully staffed ICU beds available in the entire state of Idaho.