Coronavirus: Canyon County announces November voting locations; over 400 cases Thursday
The Canyon County Elections Office has announced that it will open just five consolidated polling locations for the upcoming November election, a result of the constraints caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The polling places will be at the following places:
- O’Connor Field House – S 22nd Ave, Caldwell
- Celebration Church – 2121 Caldwell Blvd, Nampa
- Oregon Trail Church of God – 23057 Old Hwy 30, Caldwell
- Melba Valley Senior Center – 115 Base Line Rd, Melba
- Notus High School (Old Gym) – 25260 Notus Rd.
These five locations will be open on Election Day — Nov. 3 — and for in-person early voting, which starts on Monday, Oct. 19, and runs through Friday, Oct. 30, county officials said in a news release.
Canyon County residents will be able to cast their ballot at any one of the five locations, as voters do not have precinct-designated locations this time.
Though the county is still finalizing the hours of operation for early voting, it hopes to have each location open past 5 p.m. in order to give people more options to cast their vote.
Polling locations and absentee ballots have been a large topic of discussion during the coronavirus outbreak. In May, Idaho’s primary election —held through mail-in ballots — drew historically high voting numbers.
In a news release, Canyon County Clerk Chris Yamamoto said it was a difficult decision to consolidate polling places, but his office felt it was in the best interest of voters.
“We frankly don’t have enough experienced poll workers to open locations in all 64 precincts, so this was our best option to help ensure a smooth voting process both on Election Day and during the early voting period,” Yamamoto said. “These are also larger locations with ample parking, so it will be easier for voters and poll workers to follow the recommended COVID-19 precautions like physical distancing.”
Idaho residents can register to vote or request an absentee ballot by going to www.idahovotes.gov.
2 SE Idaho hospitals nearing limit on coronavirus patients
The leaders of two hospitals in southeastern Idaho say their facilities are close to being overwhelmed with the number of coronavirus patients.
According to The Associated Press, the two doctors — Daniel Snell of the Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello and Ken Newhouse of Bingham Memorial Hospital in Blackfoot — told the board of directors for Southeastern Idaho Public Health that the two hospitals will not be able to keep up with the rate of hospitalizations if the upward trend continues.
Newhouse was quoted as saying his hospital could be overloaded by patients very quickly.
“We are on a razor’s edge where with exponential growth and with continued people doing things in the community we could have a sudden uptick that could happen very, very quickly,” Newhouse said.
Snell said his hospital could accommodate up to 50 patients, but that could happen only if there was a “code black situation” where everything else would be shut down.
Both Bannock and Bingham counties, where Pocatello and Blackfoot are located, respectively, reported new case totals in the double digits on Thursday. Bannock added 22 and Bingham added 16.
Idaho COVID cases trend upward, over 410 new cases Thursday
With 416 new confirmed coronavirus cases reported by public health districts Thursday, Idaho’s positive case percentage is on an upward trend.
On Thursday, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare reported the state’s positive testing rate was 8.1% out of 17,702 tests for the week of Sept. 13-19, an increase from 6.7% of 18,257 tests the previous week.
Five out of Idaho’s seven health districts reported a rise in positivity percentage from the previous week. The two not on that list are the Boise-based Central District Health, which went from 4.9% to 4.6%; and the Caldwell-based Southwest District Health, which decreased from 7.7% to 7.4%.
The state’s seven-day moving average is now 368.9 new cases per day, whereas that number was 268.3 last week.
Of the new cases reported Thursday, 52 were found in Ada County, the most of any county that day. Ada now has 11,506 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Just behind was Canyon County, which reported 51 new cases and grew its total to 7,564.
Numerous other counties reported double-digit case totals on Thursday, including Twin Falls (48 new), Kootenai (44), Latah (31), Bonneville (25), Bannock (22), Madison (18), Bingham (16), Cassia (14) and Jerome (10).
In total, 35,915 people have tested positive for the coronavirus. IDHW says that of those with the virus, 21,105 are presumed to have recovered.
Idaho health officials also reported four deaths on Thursday. Single deaths were reported in Adams (2 total), Canyon (101), Jefferson (2) and Twin Falls (36).
The Jefferson County death was that of a woman in her 50, according to Eastern Idaho Public Health. The other three deaths included one person in their 70s and two people age 80 or older, according to IDHW.
As of Thursday, 458 Idahoans have died from the coronavirus.
IDHW also reported 90 new “probable” cases of COVID-19, bringing that total to 3,470. As of Thursday, 296,412 coronavirus tests have been taken in Idaho, with about 12.1% of tests returning positive.
Coronavirus cases have been reported in all of Idaho’s 44 counties: Ada 11,506, Adams 27, Bannock 940, Bear Lake 46, Benewah 141, Bingham 864, Blaine 615, Boise 53, Bonner 293, Bonneville 2,117, Boundary 47, Butte 28, Camas 22, Canyon 7,564, Caribou 95, Cassia 603, Clark 27, Clearwater 37, Custer 51, Elmore 263, Franklin 102, Fremont 158, Gem 268, Gooding 230, Idaho 186, Jefferson 435, Jerome 654, Kootenai 2,560, Latah 362, Lemhi 65, Lewis 13, Lincoln 69, Madison 487, Minidoka 603, Nez Perce 399, Oneida 21, Owyhee 296, Payette 748, Power 221, Shoshone 213, Teton 144, Twin Falls 1,930, Valley 83, Washington 329.
Community spread has been detected in all Idaho counties except Adams, Butte and Franklin.
