Idaho school district requests COVID-19 testing as state adds 398 confirmed cases, 6 deaths
Facing down the possibility of at least 134 students in quarantine for two weeks, the Emmett School District requested additional coronavirus testing in a Tuesday evening press release.
“We’ve had quite a few disappointed students — students in tears — because they’ve been told they have to quarantine for 14 days,” said Craig Woods, superintendent of the Emmett School District. “We understand that. We want to contain this so more students are not in the same situation.”
Five staff members are also quarantined, according to data provided in the press release. Four new confirmed and nine probable coronavirus cases among students can be traced back to family members who already tested positive, Woods said. An additional 25 students and six staff members are considered “suspected” cases.
The sudden increase of quarantined students and staff is because those individuals came in contact with confirmed and probable cases in school, according to the press release. Although health officials recommend masks to help contain the number of positive cases, masks are not required in the Emmett School District.
The district plans to work with Crush the Curve to set up a drive-thru testing clinic later in the week.
Across the state, Idaho’s public health districts reported 398 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus on Tuesday, bringing the total to 37,899 since the pandemic began in Idaho in March. The state also added 84 probable cases.
This is the seventh time in nine days the state has recorded at least 400 total cases — including probable cases. Idaho’s seven-day average also increased for the 14th straight day — from 261 on Sept. 15 to 449.3 on Tuesday.
Idaho reported six new deaths on Tuesday, with one each in Bannock, Bonneville, Cassia, Gem, Payette and Madison counties. Idaho has recorded 466 deaths related to COVID-19 so far.
Ada County reported 53 new cases and Canyon County reported 37. One of the state’s newest hot spots, Madison County, continues to post case increases, reporting 35 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday and 31 new cases the day before.
COVID-19 cases in Magic Valley region doubled over last month
The number of coronavirus cases in the Magic Valley region have doubled over the last four calendar weeks, South Central Public Health District officials announced Tuesday. In the last week of August, the eight-county health district based in Twin Falls reported 187 new coronavirus cases. Last week, the district reported 471 new cases.
On Monday, the health district reported 128 new cases. The district recorded the largest single day case jump of 151 cases on Sept. 24, according to the district’s Tuesday press release.
Twin Falls, Blaine, Cassia, Camas and Minidoka counties have recorded large increases of coronavirus cases over the last month, while Jerome County’s cases surged and then stabilized. Health district officials warned the trend of increasing cases across those six counties in particular would only continue if residents don’t take more precautions.
“Most of the spread we are seeing starts when one person is infected at work or at a social event and then unintentionally brings the disease home to their family,” said Tanis Maxwell, the epidemiology program manager for the district. “If we can incorporate social distancing and mask use into our daily lives we can continue to socialize but protect our families from disease.”
DAILY DETAILS
Overall hospitalizations: Health and Welfare reports that there have been 1,847 hospitalizations of people with COVID-19, 457 admissions to the ICU and 2,782 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. 28, the health system was reporting 33 patients in its hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 out of 437 patients overall. The health system reported a 14-day coronavirus test positivity rate of 7%.
Saint Alphonsus Health System: As of Sept. 28, the health system was reporting 24 patients in its hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 out of 367 patients overall. The health system reported a 14-day coronavirus test positivity rate of 8.2%.
Boise School District: The district says the following schools or units have reported confirmed COVID-19 cases among students or staff since Sept. 22: Borah High School (2 cases), Boise Online school (1), Dennis Technical Education Center (1), Hawthorne Elementary (1), Hillside Junior High (1).
Testing totals: At the end of the day Tuesday, Health and Welfare reported that 306,706 people had been tested statewide. About 12.4% of those have been positive for COVID-19.
Counties with community spread: All counties except Adams, Butte and Franklin have been announced to have community spread.
Counties with confirmed COVID-19 cases: Ada 11,869, Adams 27, Bannock 1027, Bear Lake 46, Benewah 146, Bingham 935, Blaine 651, Boise 55, Bonner 310, Bonneville 2,278, Boundary 47, Butte 36, Camas 30, Canyon 7725, Caribou 103, Cassia 679, Clark 29, Clearwater 46, Custer 59, Elmore 274, Franklin 129, Fremont 188, Gem 297, Gooding 250, Idaho 192, Jefferson 490, Jerome 681, Kootenai 2,684, Latah 458, Lemhi 83, Lewis 34, Lincoln 72, Madison 686, Minidoka 649, Nez Perce 421, Oneida 25, Owyhee 300, Payette 776, Power 243, Shoshone 213, Teton 163, Twin Falls 2,067, Valley 86, Washington 340.
This story was originally published September 29, 2020 at 8:58 PM.
