BOISE, Idaho (AP) — State health officials on Monday deactivated crisis guidelines for rationing care at medical facilities in northern Idaho as COVID-19 cases have dropped.
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare said that the number of COVID-19 patients remained high but no longer exceeds available health care resources.
“While this is good news for Idaho, we’re still watching the Omicron variant very closely because this is a precarious time,” said Director Dave Jeppesen. He said getting vaccinated, getting a booster shot, and wearing masks in crowded areas could help prevent the healthcare system from being overwhelmed again.
The Omicron variant appeared in the state last week. Much about the omicron coronavirus variant remains unknown, including whether it causes more or less severe illness.
The crisis standards had been in effect for the state’s five most northern counties since Sept. 7. The entire state went into crisis standards from Sept. 16 to Nov. 22.
Crisis standards of care give legal and ethical guidelines to health care providers when they have too many patients and not enough resources to care for them all. They spell out exactly how health care should be rationed to save the most lives possible during a disaster.
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
For all the latest Health News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
Denial of responsibility! NewsBit.us is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
