Hospitals in Utah are facing filled wards and limited resources.  Their patients are facing the very real possibility that no matter how sick they are, they will not be treated, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

The seven-day moving average of new coronavirus cases in Utah has tripled in the last six weeks, to more than 1,900 new confirmed cases a day.  The number of non-specific ICU beds is roughly 180 out of 500 overall.

Many hospitals in the state have already reported that their ICU beds are full.  The University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City reported 95% of its ICU beds were full as of October 8th.  Last week, all Utah hospitals reported 102% ICU capacity.  Two hospitals have opened up overflow ICU beds.

To prepare for increasing cases, the administrators of the state’s hospitals have presented Utah’s republican governor Gary Herbert with the criteria it proposes doctors follow to determine when care should not be provided to a patient sick with the coronavirus.

Those guidelines, which must be approved by the governor, are rapidly becoming real:  Greg Bell, president of the Utah Hospital Association, said hospitals are preparing to implement the criteria within the next two weeks.

The problem is not hospital beds alone.  Utah is prepared to create an emergency medical unit at the convention center in Sandy, Utah.  The issue is ICU equipment and personnel, already stretched thin by the spread of the pandemic.

“We’re down 20% to 30%. Hundreds and hundreds of nurses are not able to work as they were [before] because of their own disease or infection in the family, or they’re moms and dads with school issues,” Bell said. “Some are worn out, some are on leave because they’ve been doing this for seven months.”