BOISE, Idaho — Idaho officials have approved spending $5 million of federal coronavirus relief money to help hospitals hire additional staff to help care for COVID-19 patients.
The Coronavirus Financial Advisory Committee also on Wednesday unanimously approved spending $300,000 to train healthcare providers to administer coronavirus vaccines when they become widely available, probably in 2021.
Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Director Dave Jeppesen told the committee that many of the state's hospitals are at the edge of capacity. He says the state could have double the current number of COVID-19 patients by the end of December.
Johns Hopkins University reports that Idaho has had nearly 95,000 infections and 874 deaths.
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