Saint Alphonsus closes three urgent care clinics on weekends amid COVID-19 surge
A surge in omicron infections is causing Treasure Valley health care workers to miss work and is forcing some urgent care clinics to temporarily close.
On Tuesday, Saint Alphonsus Health System announced the closures of three urgent care clinics on weekends. Staff at the three locations — in Boise, Kuna and Nampa — will be reassigned to other facilities. All of the system’s urgent care clinics will also begin closing an hour early, effective immediately.
“As the most recent wave of COVID-19 is spreading through our community, more of our colleagues are out sick or isolating due to possible exposure,” said Dr. Mark Nassir, president of Saint Al’s, in a press release.
Over the last two weeks of December, more than 88% of COVID-19 test samples sequenced for Idaho residents were caused by omicron, a variant of the coronavirus that may be three or four times more infectious than the delta variant. The delta variant caused the surge in hospitalizations that overwhelmed hospitals last fall.
Though scientists say vaccines — especially with booster doses — still provide high levels of protection against hospitalization and death, the omicron variant is causing large numbers of breakthrough cases.
The Saint Al’s clinics on West Emerald Street in Boise, on East Wythe Creek Court in Kuna and on Karcher Road in Nampa will close on weekends. The clinics on West Lake Hazel Road in Boise, on West Cherry Lane in Meridian and on North Sister Catherine Way in Nampa will remain open on weekends, as will locations in Caldwell and Star.
Updated hours for the clinics are available on the Saint Al’s website.
Other facilities have been affected, too.
At Primary Health Medical Group, seven clinics have seen closures in the past week due to record demand and lots of staff calling out sick, according to a spokesperson. On Monday, three urgent care clinics — two in Boise and one in Caldwell — were closed. Two Primary Health clinics will be closed through Sunday, according to the provider’s website.
The week of Jan. 3, Primary Health, which offers COVID-19 testing, was conducting nearly five times as many tests per day as it had been before the omicron surge. The company’s CEO, Dr. David Peterman, said he is worried the current situation foretells a disaster for the state’s health care resources.
“We normally see in our urgent care thousands of patients daily,” he told the Idaho Statesman. “If we can’t service the patients, there aren’t a lot of alternatives. So this is truly a crisis.
“Every time I’ve predicted a disaster coming or a crisis, I’ve been right.”
This story was originally published January 11, 2022 at 2:06 PM.
