Medical care is being rationed out as the COVID situation in the state worsens.

Currently, multiple US states are in the midst of a fresh surge of COVID-19 infections, with many hospitals inundated with patients. These hospitals are running out of not only ICU beds, but medicine and available equipment. One state where the situation is particularly dire is Idaho, which has one of the lowest rates of vaccination against COVID-19 in the entire United States.

Kootenai Health, located in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, has almost entirely run out of space for patients, having recently been forced to convert one of their conference rooms into an overflow unit. The hospital is offering increased pay to nurses who have been shipped in from elsewhere to assist, and a military medical unit has also arrived on the scene.

“It’s just nonstop trying to find placement for these patients and the care that they need,” Brian Whitlock, the president and CEO of the Idaho Hospital Association, told NBC. “It really is a minute-by-minute assessment of where beds are open, and hospitals saying we don’t know where we’re going to put the next one.”

The situation isn’t only affecting COVID-19 patients; those with other potentially life-threatening conditions such as heart attacks or strokes, as well as those who have been involved in accidents, have had increased difficulty securing care due to the sheer number of patients in beds. Health authorities in states neighboring Idaho, such as Washington, have pledged to offer whatever assistance they can, though they also need to be conscious of their own healthcare capacity.

“We’ve had to initiate patient placement committees with physicians at our various hospitals to really assess and prioritize — in conversation with these facilities that are wanting to transfer — to really identify who’s at the most risk for higher level of care and what can be managed where they’re at and what cannot be managed where they’re at,” said Peg Currie, chief operating officer at Providence Health Care in Spokane, Washington.