Figure 2. States Factoring Comorbidities and Postdischarge Prognosis Into Triage.

In state triage procedures, lists of conditions played different functions. Eleven states’ triage protocols excluded patients with particular comorbidities (exclusion criteria). Eight states deprioritized patients with particular comorbidities during triage (deprioritization criteria); 1 state listed particular conditions to be considered as a tiebreaker, if more than 1 patient received the same triage score. Kansas, an exclusion state, also included a list of deprioritizing conditions in its Chronic Advanced Organ Dysfunction Score, a component of triage score assignment. Twelve states had written triage procedures that did not list comorbidities that would restrict patients’ access to critical care. Twenty-one states’ written triage procedures incorporated postdischarge prognosis into triage. Twenty jurisdictions, among them Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, either did not issue pandemic preparedness plans or their plans lacked written triage procedures.