‘Wear a mask to protect lives.’ Little says Idaho to stay in Stage 4 for 2 more weeks
Gov. Brad Little announced Thursday that Idaho would remain in Stage 4 of the state’s reopening plan, and he opted not to implement further restrictions or open the economy more as COVID-19 cases rise.
This will become the state’s fourth go at making it through Stage 4 restrictions.
“We’re not where we want to be with our coronavirus situation in Idaho,” Little said. “We’re seeing increased hospitalizations in certain parts of the state, but statewide our health care capacity is hopeful.”
In a change of venue, the Thursday announcement was held at Central District Health in Boise instead of the Idaho Capitol.
Little repeatedly pleaded to Idahoans to wear masks and face coverings, asking everyone to work to prevent the spread of the virus.
“Wear a mask to show you want a strong Idaho and a strong America,” Little said. “Wear a mask if you want our kids to go back to school in August. Wear a mask so our economy can continue to rebound. Wear a mask so we can maintain capacity for health care facilities, so no one has to make the difficult decision about who receives care when resources are limited. Wear a mask to protect lives.”
On mask requirements
Little said he knows it’s uncomfortable to wear a mask, but it’s a minor sacrifice to restore the health and prosperity of Idaho and the country.
When asked about the possibility of a statewide mask mandate, Little said he doubts that would happen. Instead, he said that decision would be up to leaders of the local health districts.
Masks have been a point of contention around the state, as Southwest District Health’s board has scheduled and postponed meetings that were set to discuss mandating masks, among other topics. One meeting was canceled after a group of people, Idaho’s Ammon Bundy among them, tried to enter the health district’s building without face coverings as required, arguing that the public should be allowed inside for the meeting despite the fact it was being broadcast online.
During Thursday’s meeting, the SWDH board passed a measure to recommend the wearing of masks, but did not mandate them. Dozens of people attended the meeting in person and offered their cheers or boos depending on what was being discussed, often jeering at the mention of anything that would encourage or force people to wear masks.
Several cities around Idaho — such as Boise, Hailey, Ketchum and others — have passed local mandates requiring the use of masks in public places, inside and outside. Ada County, Teton County and Bonneville County also have mask orders that have been issued countywide.
Charting coronavirus data
Dr. Christine Hahn, state epidemiologist for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, said the state saw a definite increase in emergency room visits over the past two weeks.
Hahn said the state is hoping to update its metrics to include more information about the numbers of those hospitalized and admitted to intensive care units, or ICUs. That metric, which was previously available, recently went away after the Trump White House issued a directive last week to discontinue publishing hospital data.
Hahn said that local hospitals have been “working feverishly” to bring those totals back.
“We believe that is our best indicator right now of how severely this virus is impacting Idahoans and how it might be affecting our health care capacity,” Hahn said.
Afterward, Hahn told the Statesman that state officials worry some of the more recent data points used in graphing Idaho’s coronavirus cases are not complete.
“We recognize that as the districts have gotten overwhelmed with new cases, it is possible that there’s more of a lag and reporting,” Hahn said. “And that’s one reason we want to change it.”
A graph provided to reporters at the news conference showed the number of cases by report date, which illustrated less than 300 cases were reported on July 21. However, there were 463 confirmed cases that day reported by Idaho’s seven health districts.
“We’re not trying to fool anybody, we are just realizing that as the districts get more overwhelmed, that data is getting slower,” Hahn said.
She said the state also wants to start relying on hospitals and clinics for totals on health care workers who are out sick, saying it would be a more direct way to keep track of that number.
Going forward
To advance out of the stages of Idaho Rebounds, the state must meet six criteria. After meeting the requirements in the first three stages, Idaho has failed to meet the criteria needed to advance out of Stage 4.
Idaho first entered the stage on June 13. Since then, the reasons for remaining in it have varied. Idaho first failed to meet the standards for positive testing percentage and health care worker positives, and the second time it again failed the standard for the percentage of positive tests. The third time around, the state saw an upward trend in new cases and an upward trend in test positivity percentage.
Idaho will now have to wait until early August to see whether it can advance out of Stage 4, as cases continue to soar.
Earlier this week, Primary Health Medical Group CEO David Peterman told CDH that in his estimation, the positivity rate for coronavirus tests was too high, at around 14%, to allow schools to reopen.
This story was originally published July 23, 2020 at 9:16 AM.
