This article was originally published by Rachel Roberts of the Idaho Statesman.
At this time last week, Idaho reached its highest seven-day moving average for new and confirmed cases of COVID-19 at 597.1 per day.
Fast forward one week and the state’s seven-day average has only grown. The Gem State hit an all-time high of 670.7 cases per day on Saturday — an increase of 12.3% from last week and 39.4% from Oct. 1.
Idaho reported a combined 483 new confirmed and 210 new probable cases of the coronavirus on Saturday for a total of 693 new cases. New deaths were announced in Ada (1 new, 157 total), Bingham (1 new, 15 total) and Power (1 new, 2 total) counties.
Southeastern Idaho Public Health said the Bingham County death was a male in his 70s, and the Power County death was a female in her 60s. Idaho has lost 532 residents to the virus, with a case fatality rate of about 1.01%.
Hospitalizations for patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 have increased significantly since the start of the month. On Oct. 1, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare reported 151 people hospitalized statewide, but that figure has since grown to 221 as of Oct. 14, which is the most recent day with data available. Idaho peaked at 242 hospitalizations on Aug. 3.
Thirty of Idaho’s 44 counties added new confirmed cases Saturday, including 10 with increases of 10 or more: Ada (65 new, 13,421 total), Kootenai (65 new, 3,223 total), Madison (60 new, 1,663 total), Cassia (47 new, 1,018 total), Bonneville (41 new, 3,019 total), Canyon (38 new, 8,535 total), Twin Falls (36 new, 2,878 total), Minidoka (34 new, 945 total), Jefferson (14 new, 688 total) and Payette (12 new, 927 total).
The other counties reporting new confirmed cases were Bannock (9 new, 1,457 total), Bingham (2 new, 1,134 total) Blaine (6 new, 768 total), Boise (1 new, 60 total), Bonner (2 new, 388 total), Boundary (1 new, 57 total), Clearwater (1 new, 104 total), Custer (1 new, 83 total), Elmore (6 new, 332 total), Franklin (8 new, 246 total), Fremont (9 new, 324 total), Gem (2 new, 334 total), Gooding (3 new, 356 total), Jerome (8 new, 831 total), Latah (1 new, 782 total), Lemhi (5 new, 145 total), Lewis (2 new, 62 total), Lincoln (1 new, 107 total), Nez Perce (5 new, 573 total) and Power (1 new, 293 total).
Health and Welfare removed two cases from Idaho County (275 total) and one from Caribou County (163 total). Cases are sometimes removed when an investigation reveals an individual’s permanent residence is in another county, health district or state.
There have been 46,877 confirmed cases reported since the start of the pandemic along with 5,828 probable cases. Health and Welfare estimates 25,679 people have recovered from the virus.
Note: The Idaho Statesman used data updates from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Southeastern Idaho Public Health and Eastern Idaho Public Health to determine Saturday’s case count.
