Idaho’s positive COVID-19 test rate triples in two weeks as state passes 6,000 cases
Editor’s note: Due to an adding error, the statewide single-day and total confirmed coronavirus case numbers were off by one case. We have corrected the numbers in this story.
Idaho reached 6,081 confirmed cases of the coronavirus Thursday evening, and the state’s positive testing rate keeps climbing alongside the daily numbers.
The state health department revealed that 9% of the COVID-19 tests were positive the week of June 21-27. That’s more than triple the weekly rate from two weeks earlier (2.7%) and a big increase from the previous week, when it was 6.7%.
The 9% positive rate is a new high for Idaho, topping the 7.1% set March 29-April 4.
The June 21-27 week coincided with Idaho’s surge in new cases after it reached Stage 4 of the governor’s reopening plan. The state has reported 200 or more new cases eight of the past 10 days, including 277 on Thursday.
The spike can’t be easily attributed to an increase in testing. Idaho has conducted 10,000 to 12,000 tests four of the past five weeks, according to publicly available data from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. The state conducted 11,511 tests last week, a slight dip from the 11,571 it administered June 14-20.
Testing data for the current week won’t be available until July 9.
COVID-19 CASES IN METRO AREAS CONTINUE CLIMB
Three of the state’s most densely populated counties racked up high case numbers again Thursday. Canyon County led the way with 79 new confirmed cases, followed by Ada County (77) and Kootenai County (42).
All three have watched their totals surge in the past week. Kootenai County’s total number of confirmed cases now stands at 325, a 93% increase from a week ago. Canyon County’s total is 898, a 66% increase from a week ago. And Ada County’s state-leading total of 2,223 cases is 49% higher than it was a week ago.
They helped push the state’s total to 6,080, a 38% increase in seven days.
Other counties reporting new cases Thursday were: Bannock 2 (96 total), Bingham 7 (56 total), Bonner 1 (33 total), Bonneville 2 (85 total), Blaine 3 (526 total), Cassia 9 (224 total), Clearwater 1 (2 total), Elmore 1 (60 total), Gem 1 (23 total), Jerome 2 (211 total), Latah 1 (21 total), Madison 1 (27 total), Minidoka 11 (176 total), Nez Perce 1 (85 total), Oneida 1 (4 total), Owyhee 1 (30 total), Payette 4 (94 total), Shoshone 1 (1 total), Twin Falls 27 (546 total) and Washington 2 (99 total).
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare reported 590 “probable cases,” an increase of six since Wednesday. It also added 10 hospitalizations, three new admissions to intensive care and 15 new cases among health care workers.
FIRST DEATH IN BINGHAM COUNTY
A man in his 80s died of a COVID-19-releated illness, Southeastern Idaho Public Health announced Thursday. It is the first coronavirus-related death in Bingham County and the second in the Southeastern health district.
The man was a resident of The Willows Retirement and Assisted Living Facility in Blackfoot. One staff member at the assisted living facility tested positive for the virus.
There now have been 94 coronavirus-related deaths in Idaho.
IDAHO ADDS HOSPITAL DATA
Dozens of people were in Idaho hospitals this week because of suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to Health and Welfare. The state recently began to pull data from the National Health Safety Network, a system that most Idaho hospitals use to report how many patients they have with the coronavirus.
“We feel pretty confident that this is a pretty good picture of what’s going on day to day, keeping in mind that that can change,” said Dr. Kathryn Turner, deputy state epidemiologist for the department.
There were 42 people hospitalized in Idaho on Sunday, including 15 ICU patients with confirmed coronavirus infections.
The state is reporting hospitalizations with a delay of a few days to allow time for hospitals to update their records.
The number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized previously peaked at 71 on both April 16 and April 21. The number was lowest on May 8, with 16 patients statewide.
Hospitalizations in June ranged from 18 on June 12 to a high of 44 on June 26.
The number of people hospitalized tends to trail spikes in COVID-19 cases by a few weeks, as severe illnesses progress to a point where patients need to be admitted.
ERROR DISCOVERED IN PRESUMED RECOVERED
The state health department reported 2,801 people to be “presumed recovered” from the coronavirus on Thursday. That’s a decrease of 1,592 since Wednesday.
The health department said on its website that it discovered an error in how it previously calculated the total, which it reported as high as 4,393 on Wednesday.
“Presumed recovered” means a patient is still alive 30 days after the onset of symptoms.
DAILY DETAILS
Hospitalizations: Health and Welfare reports that there have been 350 hospitalizations due to the coronavirus, 121 admissions to the ICU and 534 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 Thursday, Health and Welfare reported that 98,119 tests had been completed statewide. About 6.2% of those have been positive for COVID-19.
Counties with confirmed COVID-19 cases: Ada 2,223, Adams 10, Bannock 96, Bear Lake 2, Benewah 13, Bingham 56, Blaine 526, Boise 4, Bonner 33, Bonneville 85, Boundary 1, Camas 1, Canyon 898, Caribou 14, Cassia 224, Clearwater 2, Custer 5, Elmore 60, Franklin 24, Fremont 6, Gem 23, Gooding 55, Idaho 5, Jefferson 13, Jerome 211, Kootenai 325, Latah 21, Lemhi 2, Lincoln 32, Madison 27, Minidoka 176, Nez Perce 85, Oneida 4, Owyhee 30, Payette 94, Power 16, Shoshone 1, Teton 19, Twin Falls 546, Valley 14 and Washington 99.
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 2, 2020 at 7:47 PM.
