3rd Alaska hospital invokes crisis care mode in COVID spike

By MARK THIESSEN
Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A third Alaska hospital has instituted crisis protocols that would allow it to ration care if needed as the state recorded the worst COVID-19 diagnosis rates in the U.S. in recent days. According to data collected by Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, one person in every 84 in Alaska was diagnosed with COVID-19 from Sept. 22 to 29. The next highest rate was one in every 164 people in West Virginia. Fairbanks Memorial Hospital activated the protocol Friday because of a critical shortage of bed capacity and staffing, along with the inability to transfer patients to other facilities. Two other Alaska hospitals, in Anchorage and Bethel, have invoked the same protocol.