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Washington hospital execs: little capacity to help Idaho

Hospitals are canceling necessary surgeries and taking longer to deal with heart attacks and strokes because COVID patients are taking up so many beds.
Credit: AP
FILE - In this Sept. 10, 2021, file photo, an emergency department sign is photographed at Kootenai Health, in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Washington is facing its own COVID-19 crisis and has little capacity to help neighboring Idaho deal with an overwhelming surge of cases driven by unvaccinated people, state hospital executives and doctors said Monday, Sept. 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Young Kwak,FileS)

SEATTLE — Washington hospital officials say the state is facing its own COVID-19 crisis and has little capacity to help Idaho deal with a surge of cases driven by unvaccinated people. 

Taya Briley, of the Washington State Hospital Association, said Monday that Washington is facing its worst COVID wave since the pandemic began. 

Hospitals are canceling necessary surgeries and taking longer to deal with heart attacks and strokes because COVID patients are taking up so many beds.

Hospitals in northern Idaho are so packed that authorities say facilities will be allowed to ration care.

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