Local hospitals see spike in COVID-19 cases

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) - The hospitals in our area say they are not under Crisis Standards of Care yet, but they are seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases.

They say that most of the cases are people who are unvaccinated. 

Doctor Dan Snell, Chief Medical Officer at Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello, says the number of ICU beds each hospital has changes on an hourly basis, and it is something they are constantly monitoring statewide.

They are on a daily call with all the hospitals in the state to see who has ICU beds.

"From an illness stand point and from a staffing stand point and from a physical bed stand point we are doing alright right now, but that doesn't mean we're out of the woods and it doesn't mean we don't have our challenges," he said. "We just want to thank the community for their support because they have given us an awful lot of support and encourage people to be vaccinated. That is the single best thing that the community can do to decompress the situation here locally and statewide and frankly nationwide."

Dr. Snell says they look at the surgery schedule every day to determine that the hospital will be able to handle elective surgeries. 

So far, they have not had to limit any care to any patients.