Report shows several Idaho schools have double-digit COVID-19 cases; Friday’s total tops 600
Several Idaho high schools have reported coronavirus case counts in the double digits, according to a new Idaho Department of Health and Welfare report published for the first time Friday.
The weekly report — which excludes schools with fewer than 50 students as well as online and virtual schools — will report the cumulative number of cases linked to individual schools around the state, as well as how many of those cases were reported in the last week.
As of Friday, state health officials were aware of 21 coronavirus cases at North Star Charter School in Eagle, 16 at Payette High School, 15 at Emmett High School, 14 at Mountain View High School in Meridian, 10 at Canyon Ridge High School in Twin Falls and 10 at Preston High School in East Idaho. At least 12 of Emmett High School’s cases and two of Canyon Ridge High School’s cases were reported this week.
Numbers reported by the state may be lower than the actual number of students and staff with confirmed coronavirus tests at each school.
The West Ada School District — the state’s largest school district with 40,000 students — had previously refused to release coronavirus case numbers, but backtracked after feedback from frustrated and angry parents, according to an Idaho Education News report. The district will cooperate with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Idaho Education News reported.
The district’s schools had reported at least several dozen coronavirus cases as of Friday, according to the report.
Overall, Idaho’s health districts reported 490 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Friday evening. With 124 new probable cases, the state added 614 total cases — the seventh-most since the pandemic began. Three of those top seven totals have come in the past eight days.
Ada County led the way with 73 new confirmed cases. Madison (53), Fremont (44), Bannock (39), Canyon (36), Bonneville (32), Twin Falls (27) and Latah (22) also added at least 20 on Friday.
Since the start of the pandemic, 39,267 Idahoans have tested positive for the coronavirus. Health and Welfare reported 4,101 “probable” cases (124 new). IDHW estimates that of those infected, 22,568 people are presumed recovered.
Long-term care update
Health and Welfare released its weekly update on COVID-19 in long-term care facilities Friday.
Outbreaks at Idaho facilities increased by seven to 180 overall, total individual cases jumped by 173 to 2,801 cases, and deaths rose by seven to 263, with four new facilities recording a death.
Active cases increased to 1,741 at 79 facilities — up from 1,658 at 76 facilities last week. There are 101 facilities with resolved outbreaks.
Below is a list of long-term care facilities by city that have active cases of the coronavirus:
American Falls: Power County Nursing Home; Blackfoot: Gem Village Assisted Living, Bingham Memorial Skilled Nursing; Boise: Terraces of Boise, Life Care of Boise, Edgewood Spring Creek-Overland, Cascadia of Boise, Garden Plaza of Valley View-Valley View Nursing & Rehab, Garden Plaza of Valley View-The Bridge at Valley View, Overland Court Senior Living, Willow Park Senior Living, Arbor Village at Hillcrest, Arbor Valley of Cascadia, Life Care of Treasure Valley, Veranda Senior Living-Barber Station, Avamere Transitional Care, Park Place Assisted Living of Boise, Edgewood Castle Hills, Independent Living Services-Five Mile, Grace Assisted Living at State St.;
Buhl: Desert View Care; Burley: Mini Cassia Care Center, Parke View Rehab; Caldwell: Canyon West of Cascadia, Grace Assisted Living, Lenity Senior Living; Challis: Diamond Peak Health Care of Challis; Coeur d’Alene: Lacrosse Health & Rehab; Darlington: Antelope Creek Living Center; Eagle: Paramount Parks, Edgewood Spring Creek Eagle Island; Emmett: Apple Valley Residence, Cherry Ridge Center; Fruitland: Edgewood Spring Creek Fruitland; Gooding: Desano Place Assisted Living; Idaho Falls: Tambree Meadows Assisted Living, Life Care Center of Idaho Falls, Yellowstone Group Home No. 1, Teton Post-Acute Care and Rehab, Fairwinds-Sand Creek;
Kellogg: Mountain Valley of Cascadia; Kimberly: Oak Creek, Ashely Manor-Buttercup Trail; Lewiston: The Orchards; Meridian: Creekside Transitional Care, Touchmark at Meadow Lake Village, Edgewood Spring Creek Meridian, Golden Years Oak Crest, The Cottages-Meridian, Veranda Senior Living-Paramount, Grace Assisted Living-Fairview Lakes, Tomorrow’s Hope-Lavin; Moscow: Good Samaritan Society-Moscow Village; Nampa: Meadow View Nursing & Rehab, Streamside Assisted Living, Cascadia of Nampa, Grace Assisted Living-Nampa, Southwest Idaho Treatment Center, Karcher Estates, Sunny Ridge;
Payette: The Cottages-Payette; Pocatello: Gateway Transitional Care Center, Brookdale Pocatello, Caring Hearts Assisted Living, Copper Summit Assisted Living; Preston: Franklin County Transitional Care; Rexburg: Madison Carriage Cove, Temple View Transitional Care; Rupert: Countryside Care and Rehab; Sandpoint: Life Care Center of Sandpoint; Shoshone: Lincoln County Care Center; Soda Springs: Edgewood Spring Creek Soda Springs; Twin Falls: Grace Assisted Living-Twin Falls, Brookdale Twin Falls, Rosetta Assisted Living-Twin Falls, Serenity Transitional Care, Bridgeview Estates; Weiser: Weiser Care of Cascadia, Communicare No. 6 Weiser; Winchester: Lakeside Assisted Living.
DAILY DETAILS
Overall hospitalizations: Health and Welfare reports that there have been 1,893 hospitalizations of people with COVID-19, 462 admissions to the ICU and 2,910 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 Oct. 1, the health system was reporting 28 patients in its hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 out of 480 patients overall. The health system reported a 14-day coronavirus test positivity rate of 6%.
Saint Alphonsus Health System: As of Oct. 1, the health system was reporting 26 patients in its hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 out of 371 patients overall. The health system reported a 14-day coronavirus test positivity rate of 7%.
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 (2).
Testing totals: At the end of the day Friday, Health and Welfare reported that 314,442 people had been tested statewide. About 12.5% 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 12,140, Adams 27, Bannock 1,109, Bear Lake 48, Benewah 149, Bingham 962, Blaine 660, Boise 57, Bonner 327, Bonneville 2,367, Boundary 49, Butte 41, Camas 30, Canyon 7,842, Caribou 109, Cassia 710, Clark 31, Clearwater 58, Custer 63, Elmore 291, Franklin 146, Fremont 233, Gem 304, Gooding 268, Idaho 207, Jefferson 514, Jerome 700, Kootenai 2757, Latah 553, Lemhi 87, Lewis 35, Lincoln 74, Madison 786, Minidoka 679, Nez Perce 433, Oneida 26, Owyhee 304, Payette 812, Power 256, Shoshone 215, Teton 175, Twin Falls 2,191, Valley 89, Washington 353
This story was originally published October 2, 2020 at 8:25 PM.
