This article was originally published by Jacob Scholl in the Idaho Statesman.
Since its last update, the Ada County Jail has seen eight new cases of the coronavirus.
The Boise jail now has 247 inmates who have tested positive for COVID-19, said Patrick Orr, a spokesperson for the Ada County Sheriff’s Office, in an email Tuesday. That number is up slightly from the 239 confirmed cases previously reported by the sheriff’s office in a blog post dated Sept. 11.
Orr said that all but six of those 247 cases have either been medically cleared after a quarantine period or have been released from the jail.
Ada County is not the only local jail to report coronavirus cases within its facility. Other outbreaks have been found at jails in Payette, Bonnevilleand Bannock counties.
OVER 320 NEW COVID-19 CASES, 5 DEATHS REPORTED TUESDAY IN IDAHO
Idaho public health districts reported 321 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus Tuesday evening, as well as five new COVID-19-related deaths.
Two deaths were reported in Ada County, bringing the area’s death total to 147 as of Tuesday. Single deaths were reported in Bonneville, Canyon and Payette counties, bring each county’s total to 16, 100 and seven, respectively.
The Bonneville County death was a woman in her 60s, according to Eastern Idaho Public Health. Demographics from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare included three of the deaths reported Tuesday. Those demographics reveal one person was in their 60s and two others were ages 80 or older.
As of Tuesday, 452 coronavirus-related deaths have been reported in Idaho.
For the new cases reported Tuesday, Canyon County reported the most new confirmed cases after adding 35 to its total, which is now 7,490. Just behind was Ada County, which added 29 new cases and grew its total to 11,423.
Several counties around Idaho reported double-digit new case counts Tuesday, including Madison (28 new), Bonneville (26), Bingham (23), Bannock (19), Kootenai (13), Nez Perce (11), Twin Falls (10) and Franklin (10) counties.
In total, 35,247 confirmed coronavirus caseshave been found in Idaho since the outbreak began. Of those with the virus, IDHW says 20,674 people are presumed to be recovered.
Idaho’s seven-day rolling average on Sept. 9 had dropped to 233.9 new cases per day, the lowest it had been since late June. But now, that number is on the rise. As of Tuesday, the rolling average was up to 330.7 new cases.
IDHW also reported 82 “probable” cases Tuesday, bringing that total to 3,242.
As of Tuesday, 292,159 coronavirus tests have been conducted in Idaho, with about 12.1% of those tests returning positive.
Coronavirus cases have been found in all of Idaho’s 44 counties: Ada 11,423, Adams 27, Bannock 913, Bear Lake 46, Benewah 137, Bingham 839, Blaine 612, Boise 52, Bonner 283, Bonneville 2,055, Boundary 47, Butte 27, Camas 17, Canyon 7,490, Caribou 89, Cassia 587, Clark 27, Clearwater 36, Custer 48, Elmore 260, Franklin 96, Fremont 152, Gem 263, Gooding 225, Idaho 181, Jefferson 416, Jerome 641, Kootenai 2,492, Latah 323, Lemhi 61, Lewis 13, Lincoln 68, Madison 437, Minidoka 592, Nez Perce 383, Oneida 20, Owyhee 294, Payette 739, Power 219, Shoshone 212, Teton 130, Twin Falls 1,874, Valley 81, Washington 320.
Community spread has been found in all but a handful of Idaho counties. Those counties without reports of community spread are Adams, Butte and Franklin.
