Idaho health officials have approved a new rule that allows the state to implement crisis standards of care, if necessary, during the coronavirus pandemic.
On Thursday, Gov. Brad Little laid out in stark detail the deadly situation facing Idaho.
“In multiple counties, the morgues are full and they are starting to ask for refrigerated trailers to hold bodies. In some parts of the state, emergency calls for COVID-19 victims are up 300%,” Little said during the press conference.
Hospitals in Idaho are near capacity and may soon need to ration care, deciding which patients get treated first – if at all.
The Idaho Board of Health and Welfare authorized a new rule Friday laying out how such crisis standards of care would be implemented.
Approval from a special committee would be needed, but under a rapidly developing disaster, the department director could unilaterally implement the new standards.
Little says if people don’t change their behavior by wearing a mask and physically distancing themselves from others, Idaho could authorize these adopted standards for the first time in its history.
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