This article was originally published by Rachel Roberts in the Idaho Statesman.
Between confirmed and probable cases, Ada County has averaged more than 100 new cases per day over the last week.
Beginning Oct. 7 through Wednesday, Ada County added 939 total new cases for an average of 117.4 cases per day.
For comparison purposes, Ada County averaged 92.9 cases per day from Sept. 24 through Oct. 1, which means the current average of 117.4 cases per day is an increase of 26.4%.
Hospitalizations for patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 have followed suit. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare reported 219 hospitalizations statewide as of Monday. Idaho’s hospitalizations peaked at 242 on Aug. 3 and dropped as low as 111 on Sept. 12. There are currently 56 patients in intensive care, one short of the record of 57 set July 21.
Idaho’s seven public health districts reported a combined 474 new confirmed and 154 new probable cases on Wednesday for a total of 628 cases. The state’s seven-day moving average has been above 600 for four consecutive days and stands at 622.3.
The state also announced six new deaths related to COVID-19, increasing the statewide death toll to 520 since the start of the pandemic. Panhandle Health District reported the first two deaths in Bonner County — a male and female who were both in their 80s. The other deaths were in Bonneville (1 new, 22 total), Kootenai (1 new, 45 total), Payette (1 new, 10 total) and Shoshone (1 new, 19 total) counties, but no further details were provided by their respective health districts.
Forty of Idaho’s 44 counties added new confirmed cases on Wednesday: Ada (85 new, 13,197 total), Adams (1 new, 28 total), Bannock (5 new, 1,385 total), Bear Lake (1 new, 56 total), Bingham (3 new, 1,105 total), Blaine (2 new, 738 total), Bonner (6 new, 372 total), Bonneville (22 new, 2,859 total), Boundary (2 new, 53 total), Butte (1 new, 64 total), Canyon (52 new, 8,355 total), Caribou (6 new, 157 total), Cassia (22 new, 925 total), Clearwater (2 new, 97 total), Custer (5 new, 75 total), Elmore (1 new, 321 total), Franklin (7 new, 230 total), Fremont (16 new, 293 total), Gem (6 new, 322 total), Gooding (3 new, 328 total), Idaho (6 new, 255 total), Jefferson (11 new, 653 total), Jerome (7 new, 793 total), Kootenai (40 new, 3,082 total), Latah (18 new, 745 total), Lemhi (9 new, 127 total), Lewis (2 new, 53 total), Lincoln (3 new, 99 total), Madison (58 new, 1,503 total), Minidoka (12 new, 847 total), Nez Perce (7 new, 521 total), Oneida (1 new, 35 total), Owyhee (1 new, 327 total), Payette (10 new, 896 total), Power (1 new, 286 total), Shoshone (2 new, 220 total), Teton (9 new, 225 total), Twin Falls (24 new, 2,699 total), Valley (2 new, 99 total) and Washington (3 new, 378 total).
Health and Welfare also reported 5,241 “probable” cases (154 new) of the coronavirus and estimated that 24,983 people in Idaho had recovered. There have been 45,085 confirmed cases reported in Idaho since the start of the pandemic.
Gov. Brad Little will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. Thursday to discuss the impact of the coronavirus in Idaho. Idaho Public Television will provide an online stream of the conference at IdahoPTV.org.
DAILY DETAILS
Overall hospitalizations: Health and Welfare reports that there have been 2,122 hospitalizations of people with COVID-19, 492 admissions to the ICU and 3,255 health care workers infected. Hospital and health care numbers are based on cases with completed investigations into contacts, not the full number of positives.
St. Luke’s Health System: As of Oct. 13, the health system was reporting 66 patients in its hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 out of 509 patients overall. The health system reported a 14-day coronavirus test positivity rate of 10%.
Saint Alphonsus Health System: As of Oct. 13, the health system was reporting 38 patients in its hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 out of 351 patients overall. The health system reported a 14-day coronavirus test positivity rate of 11.4%.
Boise School District: The district says the following schools or units have reported confirmed COVID-19 cases among students or staff since Oct. 6: Amity Elementary (1), Boise Online School (1), Cynthia Mann Elementary (1), district services (2), Frank Church High School (2), Hidden Springs Elementary (1), Hawthorne Elementary (1), Koelsch Elementary (1), North Junior High (1), Riverside Elementary (1), Roosevelt Elementary (1), Valley View Elementary (1), White Pine Elementary (1), Whitney Elementary (1).
Testing totals: At the end of the day Wednesday, Health and Welfare reported that 342,870 people had been tested statewide. About 13.1% of those have been positive for COVID-19.
Counties with community spread: All counties except Adams have been announced to have community spread.
Counties with confirmed COVID-19 cases: Ada 13,197, Adams 28, Bannock 1,385, Bear Lake 56, Benewah 159, Bingham 1,105, Blaine 738, Boise 59, Bonner 372, Bonneville 2,859, Boundary 53, Butte 64, Camas 31, Canyon 8,355, Caribou 157, Cassia 925, Clark 33, Clearwater 97, Custer 75, Elmore 321, Franklin 230, Fremont 293, Gem 322, Gooding 328, Idaho 255, Jefferson 653, Jerome 793, Kootenai 3,082, Latah 745, Lemhi 127, Lewis 53, Lincoln 99, Madison 1,503, Minidoka 847, Nez Perce 521, Oneida 35, Owyhee 327, Payette 896, Power 286, Shoshone 220, Teton 225, Twin Falls 2,699, Valley 99, Washington 378.
