Coronavirus update: For third day in a row, Idaho reports decline in new COVID-19 cases
For the third consecutive day, Idaho health officials have reported declining numbers of confirmed cases of coronavirus infection across the state, according to state and district numbers posted online Sunday.
Statewide, Idaho added 21 cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus. That’s the lowest number of cases reported in a single day since March 24. Officials have diagnosed 1,103 cases of COVID-19 in Idaho since the illness was first detected here on March 13.
The state reports that 10 people have died of the disease, and 77 people have been hospitalized because of it. It also reports that 80 of the cases statewide have been found in health care workers. Nearly 11,000 people in Idaho have been tested by state and commercial labs.
The largest increase in cases was in Ada County, which added 17 cases, according to state numbers on Sunday. The county now has a total of 402 cases. No other counties in the Central district reported changes.
In the Southwest District, Canyon County added two cases, bringing it to a total of 101 reported cases. Payette County added a single case. It now has six cases total.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREWhy our case numbers might differ from the state's
The Idaho Statesman is tabulating confirmed coronavirus cases from Idaho’s seven health districts as they’re reported. The health districts report cases on their own schedules — some issue press releases, some simply update totals on their websites. And the reports happen at various times throughout the day.
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, meanwhile, updates its statewide numbers once a day at about 5 p.m. Its numbers only include the cases the health districts have reported directly to the department. In some cases, health districts have reported cases publicly but not to the department by the daily deadline.
We break out each day’s new cases by county and provide details on each case when available here.
Officials in the Eastern Idaho Public Health District reported one additional case in Teton County, in a woman in her 50s who had recently traveled somewhere with “widespread COVID-19 transmission.” It was the only new case reported in the district on Sunday. Teton County now has a total of five cases.
The Panhandle and North Central districts did not report any new cases on Sunday. The Panhandle District has 44 total confirmed cases — 42 of them in Kootenai County and two in Bonner County — while the North Central district has 17 total cases across Nez Perce, Latah and Idaho counties.
The South Central and Southeastern districts did not report new cases, either. The South Central district is home to Blaine County, which, with 410 confirmed cases on Sunday, has the highest number of cases statewide, as well as one of the highest per capita infection rates in the world.
Cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in 31 of Idaho’s 44 counties: Ada, Adams, Bannock, Bingham, Blaine, Bonner, Bonneville, Camas, Canyon, Caribou, Cassia, Custer, Elmore, Fremont, Gem, Gooding, Idaho, Jefferson, Jerome, Kootenai, Latah, Lincoln, Madison, Minidoka, Nez Perce, Owyhee, Payette, Teton, Twin Falls, Valley and Washington.
This story was originally published April 5, 2020 at 5:59 PM.
