Idaho hospitals begin rationing care amid COVID overload – National & International News – Wed 8Sep2021

Idaho hospitals ration care amid COVID surge. Activists spam Texas abortion snitch website. Study: Most of world’s fossil fuels must stay in ground to meet Paris goals.

NATIONAL NEWS

Idaho hospitals begin rationing care amid COVID overload

Public health officials in Idaho have activated “crisis standards of care” protocols in the northern part of the state where hospitals are swamped with COVID patients. The crisis standards of care protocols essentially give healthcare providers an ethical and legal framework to follow when rationing care.

Enacting the protocols authorizes hospitals to prioritize which patients will receive what care based on a number of factors. One of the most important factors is a patient’s chances of survival with the benefit of high-level medical care with scarce resources like ICU beds, ventilators and other life-saving interventions. 

People with lower chances of survival will receive “comfort care” until they either recover or succumb to their illness. Patients who come in with serious but not life-threatening afflictions will have to wait behind higher priority patients for urgent care. The crisis protocols also suspends all elective and urgent surgeries. 

Idaho Gov. Brad Little and state health authorities are urging people to get vaccinated against COVID since it is the best protection against hospitalization. Idaho Department of Health Director Dave Jeppesen warned that even vaccinated citizens should take extra precautions to avoid requiring hospitalization. This means driving more carefully, putting off sporting activities that could lead to serious injury, or avoiding strenuous activities that could lead to cardiovascular issues.

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Activists spam Texas abortion tip website, then site shuts down

Shortly after Texas enacted a draconian ban on abortions that deputizes citizens to snitch on anyone who helps a woman obtain an abortion after 6 weeks, online activists began targeting a website belonging to Texas Right to Life (TRTL). TRTL set up the website to make it easier for people to report violations or suspected violations of the state law. Young online activists bombarded TRTL’s tip website with massive numbers of fake tips, memes and other spam.

Shortly thereafter, the site’s webhost GoDaddy booted TRTL site off its server, saying that TRTL had violated its terms of service. Specifically, TRTL violated GoDaddy’s prohibition against collecting the personal information of a third party without their express written consent.

TRTL spokeswoman Kimberlyn Schwartz says TRTL has registered its domain with Epik another webhost. Epik used to host 8chan an online message board known for hate speech. However, Epik’s legal representative now says Epik will not continue serving TRTL if it continues to collect third-party information. 

Rideshare companies will pay drivers’ legal fees

The Texas Heartbeat Act allows anyone to sue any party who “aids or abets” a woman in getting a post 6-week abortion or “intends” to do so. That could, theoretically, extend to anyone who gives a woman a ride to an abortion clinic. To reassure their drivers, rideshare companies Uber and Lyft now say they will pay the legal fees of any driver who gets sued under the law.

Lyft President John Zimmer said his company had several reasons for making its decision. “Number one,” Zimmer said, “the law threatens to punish drivers for getting people where they need to go. Imagine being a driver and not knowing if you’re breaking the law by giving someone a ride. Or imagine if you’re a woman in need of a healthcare appointment and not knowing whether your driver will cancel on you. Both of these situations are completely unacceptable. We do no appreciate how this law pits citizens against citizens. And we do not appreciate how this law limits a woman’s right to choose”. 

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Study: Most of world’s fossil fuels must stay in ground to stem climate change

Researchers from University College London have concluded that 60% of the world’s oil and gas reserves and 90% of its coal reserves must stay in the ground to give the world any chance to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as stipulated in the Paris Climate Agreement. Even at that rate, the researchers say, the odds of achieving that goal are 50-50.

This study uses recent data to update an earlier 2015 study. The older pre-Paris Accord study concluded that a third of oil reserves, half of gas reserves and 80% of coal reserves would need to remain untapped. 

The researchers hope that the new study will serve as an urgent reality check for countries who signed onto the agreement but continue to expand fossil fuel use and exploration. The authors describe the situation as “absolutely desperate”.

The researchers say the analysis “implies that many operational and planned fossil fuel projects [are] unviable”. If nations honor their commitments to reduce fossil fuel consumption, multi-trillion dollar plans for expansion could soon become worthless.

 The good news, according to the authors, is that the goal of limiting global warming while meeting energy needs is doable. Prof. Paul Elkins, one of the authors, points out that “We know clean electricity technologies can be deployed at scale very quickly, when the policy mechanisms are put in place to do it.”

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