Coronavirus: Idaho GOP leaders form working group. Statesman to host Live Q&A
Idaho Republican leaders in the House and Senate have created working groups to address the state’s issues in dealing with the coronavirus.
In a news release Monday, House Speaker Scott Bedke and President Pro Tempore Brent Hill announced that the two legislative branches are seeking to introduce constitutional amendments and legislation during the 2021 session that would “ensure the people of Idaho are not silenced, preserve the checks and balances set by our forefathers and protect against overreach by the executive branch.”
The legislative package that the working group hopes to introduce consists of six categories, according to the news release:
“The past few months have taught us a hard lesson: Idaho’s laws dealing with unprecedented conditions created by the COVID-19 virus are inadequate,” Bedke said in the news release. “The Republican caucuses of the House and Senate are working together to craft legislation that would improve Idaho’s future response should these conditions arise again.”
Tune in Tuesday for Live Q&A on coronavirus with Statesman staff
Starting at noon Tuesday, you can tune into a live discussion on the coronavirus in Idaho featuring Idaho Statesman staff who have covered the pandemic in our state since Day One: Statesman assistant editor Chadd Cripe and longtime Statesman health care and consumer watchdog reporter Audrey Dutton.
The discussion will be available to watch on The Statesman’s website, as well as on our Facebook and YouTube pages.
The live session will feature staff answering your questions, which can be submitted by filling out a Google Survey at bit.ly/Statesman_COVIDQuestions.
We want to hear from you!
92nd death, over 100 new cases reported Saturday in Idaho
On Monday afternoon, health officials in North Idaho reported a large number of new cases in Kootenai County.
From Saturday to Monday, 43 new cases were reported in the county, bringing its coronavirus case total to 229, according to the Panhandle Health District’s website, which was updated at noon. Monday’s new total for Kootenai is the highest jump in cases the county has recorded, as the previous high was 19 new cases on June 24.
Bonner County also added five cases to its overall count Monday, bringing the total to 29. Health officials with Eastern Idaho Public Health recorded one new case in Madison County on Sunday, bringing the county’s total to 24 confirmed cases.
As of Monday afternoon, there were 4,847 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Idaho.
On Saturday, state health officials reported a new coronavirus-related death, bringing the state’s total to 92.
The death was of a woman over 80 who was a resident of Jerome County, according to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. The woman’s death was the fourth in the county.
On Saturday, Idaho continued its streak of reporting more than 100 coronavirus cases daily. Health officials around the state added 116 new COVID-19 cases to Idaho’s total.
The Saturday case count comes the day after the largest single-day case count since the pandemic began, as 277 cases were reported Friday by health officials. Friday also featured a record number of cases being reported in Ada County: 187.
Ada recorded 44 new cases on Saturday, the most of any county, and Canyon followed with 33 new cases. Elsewhere in the state, new cases were reported in Boise, Cassia, Kootenai, Minidoka and Twin Falls counties, among others.
State health officials reported 10 new “probable cases” of the virus, bringing the total to 529. Of the 4,798 cases reported in Idaho, health officials say that 3,898 cases are “presumed recovered.”
Coronavirus cases have been found in the majority of Idaho’s 44 counties: Ada 1,723, Adams 9, Bannock 84, Benewah 13, Bingham 37, Blaine 517, Boise 2, Bonner 29, Bonneville 73, Boundary 1, Camas 1, Canyon 617, Caribou 14, Cassia 182, Clearwater 1, Custer 5, Elmore 51, Franklin 22, Fremont 4, Gem 16, Gooding 52, Idaho 3, Jefferson 12, Jerome 199, Kootenai 229, Latah 11, Lemhi 2, Lincoln 32, Madison 24, Minidoka 132, Nez Perce 81, Owyhee 22, Payette 60, Power 15, Teton 14, Twin Falls 460, Valley 10 and Washington 88.
Community spread has been detected in 28 Idaho counties: Ada, Bannock, Benewah, Bingham, Blaine, Bonner, Bonneville, Canyon, Caribou, Cassia, Custer, Elmore, Gem, Gooding, Jefferson, Jerome, Kootenai, Lemhi, Lincoln, Madison, Minidoka, Owyhee, Payette, Power, Teton, Twin Falls, Valley and Washington.
This story was originally published June 29, 2020 at 10:48 AM.
