Eight Idahoans in their 90s have died in connection with coronavirus in the Lewiston area
Eight of the 10 deaths in Nez Perce County connected to the coronavirus have occurred in people in their 90s, the Idaho North Central District public health department told the Idaho Statesman on Wednesday.
The district also reported Nez Perce County’s 10th death in the COVID-19 pandemic Wednesday — the most in the state.
The other two deaths involved patients in their 70s and 80s, according to the district.
Nez Perce County only has 20 confirmed coronavirus cases and hasn’t detected community spread in the area. However, seven of the deaths are listed as “probable” cases — which means their death certificates indicate COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 (the related virus) contributed to their deaths, but their cases weren’t confirmed by a testing lab.
All of the deaths have included “age-related medical issues,” the district said in its statement.
With 10 deaths in 27 confirmed or probable cases, Nez Perce County has a case fatality rate of 37%. Ada County, by contrast, has a fatality rate of 1.6% based on case numbers from Boise-based Central District Health.
Idaho now has 41 confirmed COVID-19-related deaths. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare reported an eighth death in Twin Falls County on Wednesday. No case-specific information was provided.
With all seven of the state’s health districts posting at least one update Wednesday, there were 43 new cases of coronavirus and 1,508 statewide. Additional cases were reported in Ada (10 new, 541 total), Blaine (5 new, 463 total), Canyon (12 new, 179 total), Gooding (1 new, 6 total), Jerome (3 new, 32 total), Kootenai (3 new, 48 total), Payette (1 new, 10 total) and Twin Falls (8 new, 87 total) counties.
There are an additional 80 “probable cases” of coronavirus throughout the state, according to IDHW.
Tara Macke, the public information officer for North Central District, wouldn’t say whether a nursing home was involved in the Nez Perce cases. Central District Health reported an outbreak at a Boise nursing home on Tuesday.
“In an effort to help the public better understand the cases and deaths in PH-INCD, we have expanded our data sets and will report in this manner,” Macke wrote in an email, referencing the age ranges provided Wednesday. “As a reminder, Public Health has a legal and ethical obligation to protect the privacy of individuals and their personal information. We understand the public’s interest in the data. Our obligation continues to be the protection of individual privacy with sharing data.”
People who die without being tested for COVID-19 aren’t necessarily tested after they die, said Dr. Kathryn Turner, Idaho’s deputy state epidemiologist. They also might not be tested if they arrive at a hospital already near death, she said.
When patients die in a hospital, their death certificate is typically completed by a physician, according to previous Idaho Statesman reporting. If they die at home or outside of a medical setting, the county coroner performs a death investigation and completes the certificate.
“A very astute coroner might go ahead and swab a deceased person if they were able to do that quickly enough,” Turner said Tuesday in a phone interview. “There should be enough virus depending on where they are in the phase of their illness.”
Meanwhile, Southwest District Health provided the Idaho Statesman with an epidemic curve Wednesday that shows cases in Canyon County based on the date that symptoms began. Blaine County released a similar chart earlier this week.
The Canyon chart shows a fairly flat curve since 17 patients began noticing symptoms in a two-day stretch in mid-March.
A statewide epi curve is in the works, Turner said.
“That is our favorite date to use,” Turner said of the symptom onset. “… Blaine County has endeavored to get an onset date for nearly every single case they have. Central District Health has done the same.”
Cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in 32 of Idaho’s 44 counties: Ada 541, Adams 1, Bannock 5, Bingham 2, Blaine 463, Bonner 4, Bonneville 16, Camas 1, Canyon 179, Caribou 1, Cassia 10, Custer 2, Elmore 18, Fremont 2, Gem 9, Gooding 6, Idaho 3, Jefferson 4, Jerome 32, Kootenai 48, Latah 3, Lincoln 15, Madison 5, Minidoka 6, Nez Perce 20, Owyhee 4, Payette 10, Power 2, Teton 6, Twin Falls 87, Valley 2 and Washington 1.
Idaho has confirmed community spread in 13 counties: Ada, Bingham, Blaine, Bonneville, Canyon, Elmore, Gem, Jefferson, Kootenai, Madison, Payette, Teton and Twin Falls.
Health and Welfare reported 15,751 tests had been completed statewide at the end of the day Wednesday. About 9.6% have been positive for COVID-19. There have been 143 hospitalizations, 46 admissions to the ICU and 172 health care workers who have been infected, according to IDHW. The hospital and health care numbers are based on cases with completed investigations into contacts, not the full number of positives.
Health and Welfare goes in-depth on ER visits
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare added more robust emergency department data to its coronavirus website on Wednesday. The information is broken down into three charts detailing the number of ER visits across the state for patients with COVID-19 symptoms per day, the number of ER patients admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 symptoms, and the percentage of ER visits that were for patients with coronavirus symptoms.
The data comes from 31 health care facilities throughout the state.
The first chart begins tracking emergency room visits for patients exhibiting coronavirus symptoms as early as Feb. 1. There were 21 ER visits on Feb. 1, and the chart peaks with 89 visits on March 16. The chart shows 11 ER visits on Tuesday.
The second chart shows that of the 22 patients who went to the ER on Feb. 1, only one was admitted to the hospital. Of the 89 visits on March 16, six had to be admitted. Hospital admissions in the 31 facilities reporting information peaked at a combined six on March 16 and April 1. Two patients were admitted to hospitals for COVID-19-like complications on Tuesday.
The third chart shows that patients displaying coronavirus symptoms accounted for a high of 6.7% of the overall ER visits on March 19. That figure has since dropped to 1.5% on Tuesday. The lowest percentage was 0.6% on Feb. 25.
This story was originally published April 15, 2020 at 3:23 PM.
