3rd hospital invokes crisis care mode in COVID spike

A third Alaska hospital has instituted crisis protocols that allow it to ration care if needed as the state recorded the worst COVID-19 diagnosis rates in the U.S. in recent days, straining its limited health care system.

According to data collected by Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, one in every 84 people in Alaska was diagnosed with COVID-19 from Sept. 22 to Sept. 29. The next highest rate was one in every 164 people in West Virginia.

Fairbanks Memorial Hospital said Friday it activated the Crisis Standards of Care policy because of a critical shortage of beds, staffing and monoclonal antibody treatments, along with the inability to transfer patients to other facilities.

In mid-September, Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage, the state’s largest hospital, invoked the policy as did the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp. for its hospital in Bethel, in southwest Alaska.

“The move to Crisis Standards of Care is not something we take lightly,” Fairbanks Chief Medical Officer Dr. Angelique Ramirez said in a statement. “This is in response to a very serious surge of COVID in our community.”