In COVID-slammed Idaho, schools risk buckling hospitals

By REBECCA BOONE
Associated Press

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Roughly 11,000 kids in Coeur d’Alene were getting ready for their first day of school when Idaho public health officials announced this week that northern hospitals were so crowded with coronavirus patients that they would be allowed to ration health care. Coeur d’Alene School District spokesman Scott Maben estimates that only about 3% of them were wearing masks. Meanwhile, Coeur d’Alene’s major hospital Kootenai Health has had to move some patients into a conference room and get help from the military to deal with the flood of coronavirus patients. Dr. Robert Scoggins says the region’s no-mask policies are an additional threat to Idaho’s health care system.