‘Biggest wave yet:’ Some clinics close urgent care, unable to handle COVID spike
Medical clinics across the Treasure Valley have been swamped with a sudden influx of patients. One large health care provider, the Primary Health Medical Group, has been unable to keep up with demand and has been forced to close some of its urgent care clinics.
Primary Health, which has 21 clinics in Boise, Meridian, Nampa, Kuna, Caldwell, Eagle and Garden City, says it tests more people for COVID-19 than any other urgent care group in Idaho. The Primary Health clinics tested between 1,500 to 1,800 urgent care patients each day last week. Before the recent surge, it was averaging between 300 to 400 tests daily.
“We’re seeing record numbers of patients, and the vast majority are seeking COVID testing,” Chryssa Rich, director of marketing and communications for the company, said Monday by phone.
More people are coming for tests than came even in September, when Idaho went into crisis standards of care at some hospitals. Primary Health saw three times as many people visit its website on Monday as on a normal Monday.
“This is the biggest wave we’ve experienced yet,” Rich said.
And a record number of those test seekers are testing positive. Over the last seven days, Primary Health saw a positivity rate of 34%.
Part of the difficulty in keeping clinics open is that a significant number of Primary Health Medical Group employees are unable to work, because they have either tested positive for COVID-19 or are showing symptoms.
Despite about 95% of his staff being vaccinated, 85 out of 600 Primary Health employees are unable to work because they either have tested positive, are showing symptoms or are waiting on their own test results, said Dr. David Peterman, the CEO of Primary Health Medical Group.
Another issue is the sudden scarcity of rapid antigen tests. The clinics have had difficulty getting more. Peterman noted that the antigen tests had also doubled in price recently, a possible indicator of just how low the supply and how high the demand is right now.
Three clinics’ urgent care units were closed on Monday, including the Boise clinics on West Myrtle Street and West Fairview Avenue and the Caldwell clinic on Cleveland Boulevard. Seven clinics have seen closures over the last week, Rich said.
The urgent care closures do not affect non-urgent care patients. Primary care patients are still being treated at Primary Health clinics.
“This is unheard of, “ Peterman told the Idaho Statesman in a phone interview. “We are in very, very concerning territory. And we’re primary care. We’re the primary care doctors for 80,000 patients. We normally see in our urgent care thousands of patients daily. If we can’t service the patients, there aren’t a lot of alternatives. So this is truly a crisis.”
Peterman is worried that people are not realizing just how contagious the omicron strain is. Early data indicates the variant could be at least twice as contagious as the delta variant, which caused Idaho’s surge last summer and fall, the Idaho Statesman reported last week.
With more people getting sick, Peterman worries that services provided by medical, city and school employees will not be able to be carried out. He is urging people to wear masks in public to prevent further spread.
Other states have already seen school closures as more teachers and students fall sick. Portland announced that four of its schools were going back to remote learning this week after more than 20% its students and staff were absent last week, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.
Peterman said clinics like his are “the front of the spear” when it comes to noticing COVID-19 waves.
“Every time I’ve predicted a disaster coming or a crisis, I’ve been right,” Peterman said. “And it’s because Primary Health tests thousands of people out front. So we see it first. I can tell you the hospitals, particularly the two large hospitals here, they get my data. In general, it predicts two weeks before they start to see see the uptick. They’re seeing it now, is my understanding.”
The best way to check if a Primary Health urgent care unit is open is to check the Primary Health website, Rich said.
This story was originally published January 11, 2022 at 4:00 AM.
