Idaho adds over 300 confirmed COVID-19 cases, and 3 counties set single-day records
Canyon, Gem and Bonneville counties all set single-day highs for confirmed coronavirus cases Friday, and Ada County saw another significant jump, as Idaho recorded 352 new cases.
Southwest District Health reported 113 new cases in Canyon County, pushing its total to 1,011. It set its previous high (91) on Tuesday and joined Ada as the only counties in the state with 1,000 or more cases.
Friday continued a troubling trend for Canyon County, which has more than doubled its number of cases in nine days. It had 489 on June 24 and has added 522 since then.
The 352 cases across the state Friday were the second-most reported for one day, trailing the 472 that Idaho’s local health districts reported Monday. That total likely includes many cases from Sunday, when numbers were not publicly reported.
Friday’s outburst in positive cases lifted the state total to 6,433 confirmed cases, an 85% increase from just two weeks ago.
Ada County, which has been pushed back to Stage 3 by Central District Health, led the state in new cases again Friday, adding 142 to its state-leading total of 2,365.
Bonneville (10 new cases, 95 total) and Gem (six new cases, 29 total) counties also set records, but their totals are still low.
Other counties with new cases were: Bannock 7 (103 total), Bingham 1 (57 total), Blaine 1 (527 total), Bonner 3 (36 total), Caribou 1 (15 total), Elmore 2 (62 total), Franklin 1 (25 total), Fremont 1 (7 total), Gooding 1 (56 total), Jefferson 1 (14 total), Kootenai 32 (357 total), Oneida 1 (5 total), Owyhee 3 (33 total), Payette 6 (100 total), Twin Falls 13 (559 total), Valley 2 (16 total) and Washington 5 (104 total).
The state health department reported 24 new cases among health care workers, the most since 30 on April 9. It also added five hospitalizations, but no new admissions to intensive care.
It reported 593 “probable cases,” an increase of three from Thursday, and 2,831 cases are “presumed recovered.”
(Note: The Idaho Statesman normally uses reports from local health districts. But it needed to use state data for some counties because Central District Health had a data error and South Central District Health had not reported by 8 p.m. Friday.
HOSPITALIZATIONS HIT NEW HIGH
New data from the state Department of Health and Welfare shows another concerning trend — Idaho set a new record of current COVID-19 hospitalizations on Wednesday, with 75. That data comes with a delay of a few days to allow hospitals to update their records.
That is 33 more patients in the hospital since Saturday with a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19.
The previous single-day high was 70 on both April 9 and April 16, according to a dashboard first revealed Thursday.
LONG-TERM CARE FACILITIES
The state health department reported 49 long-term care facilities with the coronavirus, 347 total cases and 58 deaths during its weekly update. That’s 10 facilities, 63 cases and two deaths added from a week ago.
There are 156 active coronavirus cases between 27 facilities, an increase of 66 cases and nine facilities from last week.
Facilities with active and resolved cases are listed on the health department’s website here.
Long-term care facilities include nursing homes, assisted living facilities or intermediate care facilities. Idaho has 400 long-term care facilities.
POSSIBLE EXPOSURE AT POCATELLO BARS
Southeastern Idaho Public Health warned the public of possible exposure at two Pocatello bars — Pub New Harmony and Hooligans.
An employee at Pub New Harmony tested positive for COVID-19. The employee worked there on June 26, 28 and 29. The employee also visited Hooligans on June 26.
The health district recommends anyone who visited either bar on those dates monitor themselves for symptoms, which could take two to 14 days to appear.
“Exposure in a bar is more than casual contact like you would have at a grocery or convenience store. Because of the nature of the contact, we believe it is important to notify the public,” Southeastern Idaho Public Health Director Maggie Mann said in a news release.
DAILY DETAILS
Hospitalizations: Health and Welfare reports that there have been 355 hospitalizations due to the coronavirus, 121 admissions to the ICU and 558 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 104,474 tests had been completed statewide. About 6.2% of those have been positive for COVID-19.
Counties with confirmed COVID-19 cases: Ada 2,365, Adams 10, Bannock 103, Bear Lake 2, Benewah 13, Bingham 57, Blaine 527, Boise 4, Bonner 36, Bonneville 95, Boundary 1, Camas 1, Canyon 1,011, Caribou 15, Cassia 224, Clearwater 2, Custer 5, Elmore 62, Franklin 25, Fremont 7, Gem 29, Gooding 56, Idaho 5, Jefferson 14, Jerome 211, Kootenai 357, Latah 21, Lemhi 2, Lincoln 32, Madison 27, Minidoka 176, Nez Perce 85, Oneida 5, Owyhee 33, Payette 100, Power 16, Shoshone 1, Teton 19, Twin Falls 559, Valley 16 and Washington 104.
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.
Editor’s note: Due to an adding error July 2, our statewide total for confirmed coronavirus cases was off by one case. We corrected the number in this story on July 6.
This story was originally published July 3, 2020 at 8:21 PM.
