UPDATE: Boise State, Boise VA, Micron employees test positive for coronavirus
Employees of Boise State University, Micron Technology Inc. and the Boise VA Medical Center have tested positive for coronavirus, those entities reported Friday.
The announcements came after the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Idaho more than doubled Thursday — including a new case in Ada County.
Boise-based Central District Health updated its numbers Thursday evening to show four confirmed cases in Ada, up from the previous known total of three. No details were provided on the new case.
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare on Thursday reported a dozen new cases in Blaine County, including one that won’t be included in the state’s total because the patient is a nonresident who has left Idaho. A shelter-in-place order is on the way for Blaine County, which leads the state with 16 cases (17 positive tests).
The Panhandle Health District reported two new cases Friday afternoon in Kootenai County, increasing the total there to three. And Southwest District Health will announce Canyon County’s first case at 5 p.m., according to a press release. That gives Idaho an official total of 27 cases until Health and Welfare updates its statewide numbers later today.
(Check out the map below for county-by-county numbers.)
Boise State worker on campus last week
Boise State alerted students, faculty and visitors to possible exposure to the employee, who was on campus a week ago.
“Individuals who visited the Administration Building or the Rec Center on Friday, March 13, 2020, may have come into contact with the individual who tested positive,” an email to students said. “Though the risk is low, if you experience symptoms of COVID-19, you should alert your health care provider that you may have been in contact with an infected individual.”
The Boise State University Recreation Center closed to students and the public on Tuesday until further notice.
This is the third confirmed coronavirus case specifically tied to a college campus. Earlier cases were connected to Idaho State University’s Meridian campus and Brigham Young University-Idaho.
Two Boise VA staffers test positive
Two employees of the Boise VA Medical Center have tested positive for coronavirus, said Josh Callihan, the public affairs officer for the facility.
One of the positive tests was among the first three reported Ada County positives several days ago. But the other was confirmed Friday, Callihan said.
“The first confirmed case we had … the exposure to patients and other employees was very, very small,” Callihan said. “This employee I think was more of a clinical provider. I do not know the extent the person was working with patients. We’re working on finding that out.”
The VA Medical Center, which shares a campus in the Fort Boise area with the State Veterans Home and the VA Boise Regional Office, has implemented some policies to limit the risk of coronavirus spread, with more measures on the way.
Policies in place include limiting the number of people entering the hospital, having meetings by phone, canceling elective surgeries, rescheduling non-essential primary care appointments or conducting them over the phone, funneling all visitors through a single entrance and screening for coronavirus at the entrance. Anyone who fails the screening can be tested. All of those tests have been negative, Callihan said.
Beginning Tuesday, vehicular access to the campus will be restricted to one entrance and screening will be done at cars.
The nursing home within the Medical Center is restricted to essential personnel only.
Micron employee tests positive
“Micron confirms that a team member at one of its Boise sites has tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19),” Micron spokeswoman Mayra Tostado said in an email.
The Micron worker had not entered a company building for more than 20 days and has self-isolated to prevent contact with others, Tostado said.
Last month, Micron began scanning employees and visitors to its Boise campus for high temperatures. A monitor shows red for anyone with a temperature of 100.4 or higher, and that person is not allowed to enter.
Micron is also requiring team members, contractors or suppliers to self-isolate and not access any Micron site for two weeks if they have traveled domestically or internationally, by air or sea, in the past 14 days.
“We continue to act out of an abundance of caution while maintaining continuity of our operations at our Boise sites,” Tostado said. “Our top priority is the health and safety of our team members, contractors and visitors.”
Micron has taken strong precautions globally, including suspending all business travel, establishing team separation protocols at its manufacturing sites and asking employees to work from home where possible, Tostado said.
Micron is the largest for-profit employer in the Treasure Valley, with more than 6,000 employees here. Its Federal Way campus, once a major chip-making plant, has evolved over the past 11 years into the company’s research and development hub, employing scientists and engineers from around the world. Micron employs about 34,000 people worldwide.
Reducing jail population
The Ada County Sheriff’s Office is actively trying to reduce the jail’s inmate population in an effort to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
On Friday, the Ada County Jail was holding 976 inmates, a number that has steadily decreased every day this week. The sheriff’s office reported that the jail held 1,004 people Thursday, 1,021 people Wednesday, 1,026 on Tuesday and 1,054 on Monday.
“Our agency is acutely aware of the threat of the COVID-19 coronavirus in our community, especially since we operate the largest jail facility in Idaho,” Ada County Sheriff’s spokesman Patrick Orr said in an email. “Our agency is also committed to do what we can to combat the possible spread of the coronavirus and help ‘flatten the curve’ — while we preserve public safety.”
For suspects accused of non-violent misdemeanor crimes, Orr said sheriff’s deputies on patrol have the ability to choose to issue a citation or “write and route,” rather than booking a person into jail. A “write and route” is the process in which a deputy makes a report and sends the information to the prosecutor to review, before making an arrest.
If a deputy comes into contact with someone who has an outstanding warrant, the person still likely will be arrested. Orr said deputies have a legal responsibility to arrest anyone with an active warrant, regardless of the charge.
“We will not sacrifice public safety,” Orr said. “Activity that puts the public in immediate danger will result in an arrest.”
Ada County courthouse evacuation
Around 1 p.m. Friday, the Ada County Courthouse was evacuated because of possible exposure to the coronavirus.
Ada County spokeswoman Elizabeth Duncan said the Ada County Board of Commissioners, the county clerk and the administrative judge agreed on the evacuation. Duncan said the county learned Friday that the spouse of an Ada County employee had tested positive for COVID-19.
She did not have immediate information on when the employee’s spouse tested positive, nor did she know the last time that employee was in the building.
Duncan said the courthouse has already been under restriction, so there were very few people in the building at the time.
The county does not have a date for when the courthouse may reopen, but officials will move forward with the plan they had in place for sanitation of the building.
Catch up on the latest coronavirus news
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This story was originally published March 19, 2020 at 11:02 PM.
