JUNEAU (AP) — Alaska officials have requested help from more than 470 out-of-state medical personnel in response to a surge in COVID-19 cases across Alaska, even as other states are coping with their own high case counts and hospitalizations.
Alaska last week set multiple records for patients hospitalized with COVID-19, straining the health care system.
The state has requested nurses, patient care technicians, respiratory therapists and other health care workers. There is no guarantee the state will get the personnel it is requesting, said state health department spokesperson Elizabeth Manning.
Health departments from other states have made similar requests from the federal government. Hospitals nationwide are reporting strains and staffing concerns.
Out-of-state nurses, doctors and other health care workers have been able to get”emergency courtesy licenses” to practice in Alaska during the pandemic. Glenn Hoskinson, a state commerce department spokesperson, said issuance of such licenses can take days if everything is in order.
“However, if we get hundreds of those at once, it would take weeks because we don’t have the capacity,” she said.
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