Idaho’s 14-day moving average stays below 300 COVID cases for 8th day in a row
Idaho’s 14-day moving average of new daily cases of COVID-19 stayed below 300 for the eighth consecutive day.
The current stretch began on Sept. 3 when the average hit 295.9 cases per day. After the state’s seven health districts reported a combined 263 new confirmed and 52 new probable cases of the coronavirus on Thursday, the 14-day average dropped to 263.4. It has not been that low since July 4.
Ada and Canyon counties continued to lead the way, reporting 52 and 34 new confirmed cases, respectively. Ada County has a state-leading 10,942 cases with a 14-day average of 51.9 cases per day. Canyon County has the state’s second-highest caseload at 7,185 cases. Its 14-day average is 41.4.
Bonneville (38 new, 1,701 total), Twin Falls (21 new, 1,653 total), Kootenai (20 new, 2,302 total), Jerome (14 new, 593 total), Bingham (10 new, 670 total) and Madison (10 new, 257 total) counties also saw double-digit increases.
The other counties adding new confirmed cases on Thursday were Bannock (9 new, 799 total), Benewah (1 new, 124 total), Bonner (4 new, 231 total), Caribou (8 new, 57 total), Cassia (2 new, 541 total), Elmore (2 new, 250 total), Franklin (1 new, 64 total), Fremont (3 new, 117 total), Gem (1 new, 219 total), Gooding (1 new, 211 total), Idaho (1 new, 50 total), Jefferson (3 new, 330 total), Latah (1 new, 258 total), Lemhi (1 new, 54 total), Lincoln (4 new, 65 total), Minidoka (7 new, 543 total), Nez Perce (1 new, 325 total), Payette (6 new, 666 total), Power (2 new, 170 total), Teton (2 new, 120 total) and Washington (4 new, 294 total). The statewide total reached 32,251 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic.
There are an additional 2,674 probable cases statewide (52 new). The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare estimated Thursday that of those infected, 17,599 people are presumed recovered.
The Idaho North Central health district announced one new coronavirus-related death in Nez Perce County on Thursday, increasing the state total to 407 deaths. The individual was a male in his 70s, according to updated demographics on the Health and Welfare website. It was the 20th death in the county from the virus but the first since May 7.
Test positivity rate drops again
Idaho’s COVID-19 test positivity rate decreased for the sixth week in a row.
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare showed a rate of 7.4% on 14,264 tests statewide for the week of Aug. 30-Sept. 5. Those numbers are likely to change as more tests are returned in the coming weeks.
Boise-based Central District Health, which includes Ada County, shared the lowest rate with Panhandle Health District at 5.2%. Health officials say a rate below 5% demonstrates control over the spread of the virus.
Eastern Idaho Public Health had the highest positivity rate at 13%. Southwest District Health, which includes Canyon County, had the second-highest at 10.3%, but that’s down from 11.8% the previous week.
Canyon County moved to orange
Canyon County’s COVID-19 health alert level was moved from red (high risk) to orange (medium risk) this week, according to a press release from Southwest District Health.
The move was attributed to a decreasing COVID-19 daily incidence rate, declining rate of cluster outbreaks and stability in the county’s health care systems.
“Canyon County’s daily incidence rate dropped from 6.33 per 10,000 people during the peak of the county’s cases between July 12 and July 25, 2020, to 2.14 per 10,000 people during the most recent date range analyzed, which was August 23 through September 5, 2020,” said Rachel Pollreis, SWDH Senior Data Analyst, in a press release.
SWDH reported 2,038 confirmed and probable cases and 13 deaths between July 12 and July 25. During that same time period, there were 77 patients hospitalized with the virus, including 31 in intensive care. For Aug. 23-Sept. 5, those figures dropped to 690 cases, four deaths, 23 hospitalized and seven in ICU.
Payette County remains in the red category because of a high incidence rate of 5.07 daily new cases per 10,000 people and evidence of sustained community spread, SWDH said. Gem, Owyhee and Washington counties are in the orange category, while Adams County is in gray (minimal risk).
DAILY DETAILS
Overall hospitalizations: Health and Welfare reports that there have been 1,551 hospitalizations of people with COVID-19, 407 admissions to the ICU and 2,300 health care workers infected. Hospital and health care numbers are based on cases with completed investigations into contacts, not the full number of positives.
St. Luke’s Health System: As of Sept. 9, the health system was reporting 28 patients in its hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 out of 494 patients overall. The health system reported a 14-day coronavirus test positivity rate of 7%.
Saint Alphonsus Health System: As of Sept. 9, the health system was reporting 28 patients in its hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 out of 360 patients overall. The health system reported a 14-day coronavirus test positivity rate of 13.9%.
Boise School District: The district says the following schools have reported confirmed COVID-19 cases among students or staff since Aug. 17: Adams Elementary (2 cases), Boise Online School (1), Borah High (3), Hillcrest Elementary (1), Maple Grove Elementary (1), Roosevelt Elementary (1) and West Junior High (1).
Testing totals: At the end of the day Thursday, Health and Welfare reported that 271,142 tests had been completed statewide. About 11.9% of those have been positive for COVID-19.
Counties with confirmed COVID-19 cases: Ada 10,942, Adams 25, Bannock 799, Bear Lake 42, Benewah 124, Bingham 670, Blaine 590, Boise 50, Bonner 231, Bonneville 1,701, Boundary 45, Butte 28, Camas 3, Canyon 7,185, Caribou 57, Cassia 541, Clark 19, Clearwater 25, Custer 35, Elmore 250, Franklin 64, Fremont 117, Gem 219, Gooding 211, Idaho 50, Jefferson 330, Jerome 593, Kootenai 2,302, Latah 258, Lemhi 54, Lewis 9, Lincoln 65, Madison 257, Minidoka 543, Nez Perce 325, Oneida 19, Owyhee 286, Payette 666, Power 170, Shoshone 204, Teton 120, Twin Falls 1,653, Valley 80, Washington 294.
Counties with community spread: All counties but Adams, Butte, Camas and Franklin have been announced to have community spread.
This story was originally published September 10, 2020 at 7:34 PM.
