Coronavirus: Testing capacity is strained, Idaho prison sees more cases of the virus
The St. Luke’s Health System is asking patients with no severe symptoms to stop coming to its emergency departments for a coronavirus test.
“Patients often have no symptoms or mild symptoms yet are seeking emergency care. Due to the rise in moderate to severe COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization, it is critical to protect the valuable and limited resources in emergency departments,” St. Luke’s stated in a news release.
St. Luke’s has expanded its testing capacity for symptomatic patients who believe they have coronavirus by distributing additional testing supplies to selected primary care clinics for by-appointment testing. St. Luke’s is unable to accept walk-ins and the emergency rooms cannot test asymptomatic patients.
St. Luke’s has a self-triage tool in myChart, which can be created online. If self-triage indicates the person should be tested, they will be able to schedule an appointment. It also set up a COVID-19 hotline for instructions and assistance at 208-381-9500.
Residents may visit to stlukesonline.org/covid19 for more information on the hospital system’s coronavirus response.
Idaho jobless rate falls as economy reopens
Nearly 25,000 people returned to work in June as Idaho’s unemployment rate dropped to 5.6%, the Idaho Department of Labor said Friday.
The agency attributed last month’s 3.4% drop to the state’s economy reopening during the coronavirus pandemic.
But cases of COVID-19 have been increasing sharply in recent weeks, and highly populated Ada County reverted to more restrictions in late June and shut down bars.
The Labor Department says that for June, the number of unemployed Idahoans dropped to about 50,000. The agency also said that the number of workers with jobs rose to about 842,000, a nearly 5% increase from May.
Prison coronavirus cases increase
According to the Idaho Department of Correction’s daily update, there again has been a modest increase in COVID-19 cases among inmates.
Idaho Department of Corrections has tested 1,686 incarcerated people. At the time of testing, IDOC found 846 negative, 129 pending, 61 positive with symptoms, 633 asymptomatic positive, and 17 have become inactive. Combined, that means 694 inmates actively have coronavirus.
Additionally, 8 staff have tested positive but 2 people had previously been diagnosed and quarantined, so IDOC identified 6 new cases in its update. The department has 74 staff off of work, as of Thursday, due to coronavirus.
So far, none of the inmates at the Eagle Pass Correctional Facility in Texas, which houses more than 600 Idaho offenders, have reportedly tested positive for the virus.
Panhandle Health District online meeting hacked
The Panandle Health District gathered for a special meeting Friday evening to discuss possible action items in regards to COVID-19.
During the meeting, the Zoom call where the public and participants could watch was hacked. The hacker wrote “no masks” multiple times on the screen.
Outside, protesters marched with signs against a potential mask mandate.
Just Thursday, protesters upended a Southwest District Health meeting, forcing the meeting to be canceled because of safety concerns.
Confirmed cases surpass 12,000 people
For the fifth time in the past eight days, Idaho broke a record for confirmed coronavirus cases. As of Thursday, Idaho was reporting more than 12,000 confirmed cases of the virus.
The state’s seven health districts reported a combined 651 cases on Thursday. The state Department of Health and Welfare also updated its most recent testing data for the week of July 5-11. During that span, there were 16,821 tests completed, with a positive percentage of 14.5% — the state’s highest rate since the pandemic began.
Ada County added 262 cases Thursday, according to IDHW, marking the 14th consecutive day the county has reported 100 or more confirmed cases.
Counties with confirmed COVID-19 cases: Ada 4,864, Adams 12, Bannock 175, Bear Lake 6, Benewah 27, Bingham 110, Blaine 540, Boise 13, Bonner 85, Bonneville 189, Boundary 9, Camas 1, Canyon 2,628, Caribou 22, Cassia 303, Clearwater 6, Custer 6, Elmore 109, Franklin 30, Fremont 13, Gem 78, Gooding 79, Idaho 14, Jefferson 30, Jerome 294, Kootenai 895, Latah 33, Lemhi 4, Lincoln 37, Madison 65, Minidoka 255, Nez Perce 102, Oneida 8, Owyhee 106, Payette 199, Power 20, Shoshone 19, Teton 36, Twin Falls 782, Valley 31 and Washington 129.
The Associated Press contributed.
This story was originally published July 17, 2020 at 8:37 AM.
