Ada County in danger of falling back to Stage 2 with 100 more new COVID-19 cases
Ada County reported 107 new confirmed coronavirus cases Wednesday, possibly causing it to take another step back in Idaho’s reopening plan.
Wednesday’s total marks the third straight day Central District Health has topped 100 new cases among its four counties. It reported 109 Wednesday, 102 Tuesday and 226 Monday (which also included some Sunday cases as the district doesn’t update on Sundays).
That gives Central District Health the option to — but does not require it to — move Ada County back another stage in Idaho’s reopening plan. It planned to reevaluate Ada County’s status next Tuesday in a public meeting, but three straight days of 100 or more cases means it doesn’t have to wait.
The health district moved Ada County back to Stage 3 on June 22 and closed all the county’s bars as cases spiked. The district’s other counties — Boise, Elmore and Valley — remain in Stage 4.
Under the state’s rebound plan, returning to Stage 2 would require movie theaters to close and limit public and private gatherings to nine or fewer people. Restaurant dining rooms could remain open.
Wednesday’s case totals continue the recent spike in Ada County. The state’s most populated county first reached 1,000 confirmed cases June 19. It only took 11 days for the county to add another 1,000 cases, a mark it reached Tuesday evening.
Central District Health announced earlier Wednesday it would begin meeting each week at 4 p.m. on Tuesdays. Those meetings will be held online and the public will have an option to watch, the health district promised in a news release.
(Note: The Idaho Statesman normally uses local health department data for its daily total. But Central District Health informed the Statesman it had a data error Wednesday, so the Statesman calculated the region’s total off the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s website.)
IDAHO TOPS 200 CORONAVIRUS CASES AGAIN
Idaho added 245 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday, marking the seventh time in the past nine reported days the state has topped 200 new cases.
It had only surpassed 200 once before June 22.
The state’s total of confirmed cases is now 5,804.
Ada County led the way again with 107 new cases, followed by Canyon County (44) and Kootenai County (28).
That brings Kootenai County, home of Coeur d’Alene, to 283 total cases. Cases there have more than doubled in the past eight days.
Other counties reporting new cases include: Bannock 3 (94 total), Bear Lake 1 (2 total), Bingham 6 (49 total), Bonner 2 (32 total), Bonneville 3 (83 total), Elmore 1 (59 total), Idaho 1 (5 total), Jefferson 1 (13 total), Jerome 4 (209 total), Latah 4 (20 total), Minidoka 6 (165 total), Nez Perce 1 (84 total), Oneida 1 (3 total), Payette 8 (90 total), Teton 3 (19 total), Twin Falls 15 (519 total), Valley 1 (14 total), Washington 5 (97 total).
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare reported 584 “probable cases,” an increase of 20 since Tuesday. It also reported 4,393 cases are “presumed recovered.”
Idaho’s state health department also reported 10 new cases required hospitalization, two new cases were admitted to intensive care and 10 new cases among health care workers.
NORTH CENTRAL ADDS COMMUNITY SPREAD
The Idaho North Central health district declared community transmission in its entire region Wednesday in a first-of-its-kind move in Idaho. Previously, health districts declared community spread county by county.
The North Central region includes Clearwater, Idaho, Latah, Lewis and Nez Perce counties, none of which had community spread before Wednesday.
Community spread means at least one person contracted the coronavirus without a clear source of transmission. The health district said in a news release the individual did not travel and had no known contact with another person with COVID-19.
“We understand that social connections are vitally important to people, but we also want people to take precautions when interacting with others to minimize the opportunities for COVID-19 to be spread,” North Central Health Director Carol Moehrle said in a news release. “We anticipate we will continue to see an increase in cases of COVID-19 in our district due to the large events that took place in June and are expected in July and August.”
The declaration puts Lewis County in the odd category of having community spread but no confirmed cases. It’s one of four remaining Idaho counties without a confirmed case. Butte, Clark and Shoshone are the others.
DAILY DETAILS
Hospitalizations: Health and Welfare reports that there have been 340 hospitalizations due to the coronavirus, 118 admissions to the ICU and 519 health care workers who have been infected. The hospital and health care numbers are based on cases with completed investigations into contacts, not the full number of positives.
Testing totals: At the end of the day Wednesday, Health and Welfare reported that 94,537 tests had been completed statewide. About 6.1% of those have been positive for COVID-19.
Counties with confirmed COVID-19 cases: Ada 2,146, Adams 10, Bannock 94, Bear Lake 2, Benewah 13, Bingham 49, Blaine 523, Boise 4, Bonner 32, Bonneville 83, Boundary 1, Camas 1, Canyon 819, Caribou 14, Cassia 215, Clearwater 1, Custer 5, Elmore 59, Franklin 24, Fremont 6, Gem 22, Gooding 55, Idaho 5, Jefferson 13, Jerome 209, Kootenai 283, Latah 20, Lemhi 2, Lincoln 32, Madison 26, Minidoka 165, Nez Perce 84, Oneida 3, Owyhee 29, Payette 90, Power 16, Teton 19, Twin Falls 519, Valley 14 and Washington 97.
Counties with community spread: Ada, Bannock, Benewah, Bingham, Blaine, Bonner, Bonneville, Canyon, Caribou, Cassia, Clearwater, Custer, Elmore, Gem, Gooding, Idaho, Jefferson, Jerome, Kootenai, Lemhi, Lewis, Lincoln, Madison, Minidoka, Nez Perce, Owyhee, Oneida, Payette, Power, Teton, Twin Falls, Valley and Washington.
This story was originally published July 1, 2020 at 7:51 PM.
