COVID-19 hospitalizations on the rise in Idaho

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) - With the number of coronavirus cases in Idaho not seeming to be going down, the question turns to how many of these cases are resulting in hospitalization.

According to the state’s coronavirus website, the number of hospitalizations went up significantly in July and seems to be holding somewhat steady over the past two weeks. During the first peak of COVID-19 in April, the total hospitalizations in Idaho was 71, as of July 27, the state saw 236 hospitalizations — an all-time state high. Fifty-one of those are in intensive care units. There are currently 121 ICU beds available.

A week ago, St. Luke’s in Nampa even had to send some patients to Boise because it didn’t have room in its facility.

KMVT reached out to see if this would be an issue in other areas.

“In Nampa, they literally had no beds,” Dr. Joshua Kern, Vice President of medical affairs for St. Luke’s Magic Valley, Jerome and Wood River. “It would be very difficult in our other facilities because they are big enough that usually the limiting step is more staffing for those beds as opposed to the literal number of beds. But in Nampa where it’s a slightly smaller hospital, we had gotten to the point where we basically had one bed left in the entire hospital at one point.”

Kern also said at this time, St. Luke’s has been doing fairly well with personal protective equipment and doesn’t seem to be to the point where it is running low.

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