Coronavirus update: Blaine County reports 3 new cases, Boise shuts down athletic courts
More coronavirus cases are popping up in Blaine County, the epicenter of Idaho’s virus pandemic. Boise closed its city basketball, tennis and other courts on Tuesday, and many stoplights in Ada County were reset to reflect sharply lower traffic.
Three new cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, were reported in Blaine County on Tuesday morning by the South Central Public Health District. Meanwhile, the state’s virus-related death toll rose to 13 on Monday night.
Nez Perce County increased its total cases from 15 to 17, according to an update on the Idaho North Central District website. Southeastern Idaho Public Health is now reporting two coronavirus cases in Power County, which includes American Falls.
The number of confirmed cases has climbed to 1,174 people in Idaho.
Coronavirus has been confirmed in 32 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, Power, Teton, Twin Falls, Valley and Washington.
Boise closes athletic courts
All of the basketball, tennis, pickleball and volleyball courts in Boise’s parks were closed by order of Parks and Recreation Director Doug Holloway.
In a tweet, Mayor Lauren McLean said the decision was made “with the health and safety of our community in mind.”
Green spaces in parks remain open, as do trails. People are asked to follow social distancing protocols.
ACHD adjusts traffic light timing
The Ada County Highway District has adjusted signal timing at several intersections to improve traffic flow, officials announced in a blog post Tuesday.
Many cycle lengths were too long after the 40% drop in traffic, engineers found. Those have been adjusted to be shorter, including on Eagle Road. Others, like on ParkCenter Boulevard and Ustick Road, are now on off-peak settings, meaning the signals rely upon vehicle detection to change the lights on demand.
Valley County extends order closing short-term rentals
Valley County, home to McCall, Cascade and many popular lakes and hot springs, announced Tuesday that it will extend its order closing all short-term rentals, hotels and motels, and RV parks, except for rentals to people providing essential services or for quarantine purposes.
The Valley County Board of Commissioners extended the order on Monday through May 15 and upped the punishment for violating the order to a misdemeanor. The board made the decision after many short-term rentals were still in use and visitors continued to seek out recreation in Valley County, according to a press release.
The Valley County Sheriff’s Office and Valley County commissioners had received numerous calls and emails citing violations of the temporary closure, the county said.
Additionally, the county is still discouraging residents from traveling outside of the county. Similarly, retirees returning home to Valley County are being asked to self-isolate for 14 days.
Valley County employees who have left the county will be required to self-quarantine for 14 days before returning to work, using their own vacation time.
Risch calls for investigation into WHO over coronavirus response
U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, announced Tuesday that he wants an independent investigation into how the World Health Organization handled the coronavirus outbreak.
“The WHO has failed not only the American people, it has failed the world with its flagrant mishandling of the response to COVID-19,” Risch said in a press release.
Risch went on to say that the WHO’s director general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has been unwilling to hold the Chinese government accountable, and that has “hindered the world’s ability to blunt the spread of this pandemic.”
He added that the United States is the largest contributer to WHO, and that American tax dollars should “go towards investments to prevent the spread of disease, not to aid and abet cover-ups that cost lives and isolate portions of the world’s population on political grounds, as has been the case with Taiwan.”
Risch is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
This story was originally published April 7, 2020 at 12:26 PM.
