Story at a glance
- Alaskan hospitals are becoming overwhelmed and rationing care as the delta variant and new COVID-19 cases run rampant in the state.
- The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services announced 871 new COVID-19 cases in the state on Tuesday.
- There are currently 194 COVID-19 patients who are hospitalized in the state.
Alaskan hospitals are becoming overwhelmed and rationing care as the delta variant and new COVID-19 cases run rampant in the state. Remote areas such as Tanacross had initially fended off the coronavirus pandemic by isolating its community early on, however, new variants have begun to reach the area.
On Tuesday, the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) announced three deaths of Alaska residents and 871 new COVID-19 cases in the state. Of the newly identified cases, 835 were residents and 36 were nonresidents.
There are currently 194 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized, however, hospitalizations are complicated by Alaska’s limited health care system. With its largest hospitals located in the state’s two major cities of Anchorage and Fairbanks, these hospitals are overwhelmed and residents located in more remote areas are left struggling to reach necessary medical care in critical cases.
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On Saturday, the state enacted its crisis standards of care for medical facilities in the state.
“Today, due to the current surge in COVID-19 cases and a shortage of resources within some hospitals, the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) activated the State’s crisis standards of care document, Patient Care Strategies for Scarce Resource Situations, for 20 Alaska health care facilities,” the DHSS said in a release.
Major challenges facing Alaskan medical facilities at this time include limited renal replacement therapy (a type of dialysis for kidney failure) and a lack of staff trained to use it, limited oxygen supplies and equipment, a lack of needed medical and nonclinical staff, and problems transporting patients from rural communities to critical access hospitals.
In Alaska, 58.3 percent of residents 12 and older have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
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