Xavier Lorenzo/Getty Images(BOISE, Idaho) Faced with a severe medical staffing shortage due to a surge in the COVID-19 cases and dwindling blood supply,
Xavier Lorenzo/Getty Images(BOISE, Idaho) Faced with a severe medical staffing shortage due to a surge in the COVID-19 cases and dwindling blood supply,
Xavier Lorenzo/Getty Images(BOISE, Idaho) Faced with a severe medical staffing shortage due to a surge in the COVID-19 cases and dwindling blood supply, Idaho health officials have activated crisis standards of care guidelines for the second time in less than a year. The Idaho Department of Public Health and Welfare enacted the crisis protocols on Monday for three public health districts in the southern part of the state reeling from a rise in coronavirus cases because of the rampant spread of the omicron variant, officials said. "The highly contagious omicron variant has thrown us a curveball," Dave Jeppesen, director of the Idaho Department of Public Health and Welfare, said in a statement. "Once again, the situation in our hospitals and health systems is dire – we don't have enough resources to adequately treat patients." COVID cases skyrocketed in September 2021, which led the state to enact the crisis protocol. More than 3,000 new COVID-19 cases, the m