Virus surges complicate the distribution of scarceCOVID-19 treatments

States just got their first shipments of an antibody treatment that could help prevent patients from developing the worst symptoms of COVID-19. But in Utah, the health department is overwhelmed and grappling with the best way to distribute it. Like the rest of the country, it’s battling a devastating surge of COVID-19 cases. Nearly 20 percent of tests done in the state are coming back positive, and hospitals are overcrowded.

“We are not declining allocations of this medication,” Charla Haley, a spokesperson from the Utah Department of Health, said in an email to The Verge. But the health department needs to work through a number of logistical problems before it can organize the treatment, she said. Right now, it has to prioritize other...

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