Idaho hospitals nearly buckling in relentless COVID surge

By REBECCA BOONE
Associated Press

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Intensive care beds are full of unvaccinated coronavirus patients at a hospital in Boise, Idaho, and doctors are bracing for the need to conserve scarce resources for the patients most likely to survive. At St. Luke’s Boise Medical Center, the view in every direction is heartbreaking. In one room, a pregnant woman in her second trimester relies on an artificial breathing machine. Down the hall, a nurse cries as she recounts the waves of anger and grief that fill her days. Idaho has some of the nation’s lowest vaccination rates, and experts warn new COVID-19 infections could number 30,000 a week by mid-September.