Oregon and Idaho run out of intensive care beds as Covid resurfaces

Oregon and Idaho have joined the list of U.S. states lacking intensive care beds as both face a dramatic increase in new coronavirus infections.

The Oregon Health Authority reported on Saturday that only 50 of the state’s 638 hospital beds were still available. Gov. Brad Little of Idaho, a Republican, said in a statement last week that only four of the state’s nearly 400 beds were still open.

The nationwide surge led by Delta has filled hospitals in many states. According to data from the Department of Health and Human Services, only a handful of them still have more than 30% of their overall intensive care beds, and many have less.

Mr. Little and Oregon Governor Kate Brown, a Democrat, each mobilized members of their state’s National Guard last month to add additional hospital staff.

“We are dangerously close to activating statewide crisis care standards,” Little said in his statement. “Basically, someone should decide who can be treated and who can’t. “

Mr Little’s state is grappling with its biggest increase in hospitalizations for Covid-19 to date. Idaho recorded an average of 512 hospitalizations over seven days on Friday, a number that has risen rapidly since July, according to a New York Times database.

In Oregon, the seven-day hospitalization average reached 1,219 on Friday, nearly double the previous record set in December.

The dire numbers do not do justice to the growing crisis plaguing hospitals and healthcare workers in both states, officials said. Mr Little said that while hospitals were making room for additional intensive care beds, they were filling up quickly.

Demand for beds in Oregon also exceeds supply. Patrick Allen, director of the Oregon Health Authority, said in an interview on Saturday that 127 patients across the state were waiting in emergency departments for beds to open. He said hospitals in southern Oregon, where vaccination rates were lowest, were particularly affected.

“We are at the limit of what we can handle right now,” he said, looking to next week when children return to school in the most populous parts of the state. “There isn’t a lot of room for things to get much worse.”