Boise State to increase testing but keep in-person classes after White House report
In its latest report, the White House Coronavirus Task Force recommended a switch to online higher education in three Idaho counties with elevated COVID-19 positivity and incidence rates among college age adults.
The report specifically advised closures in Latah, Madison and Ada counties, which are home to the University of Idaho, BYU-Idaho and Boise State University, respectively.
“Governor (Brad) Little remains committed to working with Idaho’s universities, public health and local school districts to determine recommendations that work at the local level,” Marissa Morrison, Little’s press secretary, wrote in an email.
Idaho had an incidence rate of 195 new cases per 100,000 population for the week of Sept. 26-Oct. 2. It is the eighth-highest rate in the country and puts Idaho in the red zone. The red zone is the task force’s highest health alert level and is defined as any state or county that reported new cases at or above 101 per 100,000 population and a lab test positivity rate at or above 10.1%.
Idaho’s positivity rate for Sept. 27-Oct. 3 was 10.5%, according to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
Boise State, which releases its weekly report on Fridays, announced a record 97 new cases for Sept. 25-Oct. 1. The previous single-week high was 85 cases one week earlier. The case number dropped to 53 on Friday.
In a letter to the campus community, Boise State announced that it is implementing more COVID-19 safety measures — including increased testing — but doesn’t see a need to shift to remote learning at this time.
The testing increase includes the approval of an on-campus lab that can run about 1,000 PCR tests per day with plans to increase capacity to about 4,000 per day. The university also is expanding its public health staff, developing wastewater testing and adding staff to assist with enforcement of public health protocols, including face coverings and physical distancing.
The lab will begin testing next week, according to Boise State.
“In-person instruction gives students the opportunity to make connections with faculty, staff, and peers that we know are so critical to our students’ academic success and mental health,” wrote Alicia Estey, the vice president for compliance, legal, public health and audit. “Our contact tracers have not identified any outbreaks tied to classroom exposure. Data supports that the classroom is the safest place for our community because of our university’s widespread compliance with public health measures and our comprehensive institutional approach to campus wellbeing.”
The lab will allow for “mass surveillance testing of asymptomatic students, faculty and staff,” Estey wrote.
“As we dramatically increase the number of tests administered, the total number of positive test results will increase as well,” she wrote. “Such an outcome will make us more safe, not less, because it will allow us to take actions that decrease potential spread of the virus from asymptomatic individuals. We will not avoid testing in order to artificially suppress our numbers. As the White House report indicates, it is critical to the success of our public health efforts that we identify and isolate asymptomatic members of our community to ensure that they aren’t unknowingly spreading the virus to others.”
The University of Idaho reported 116 positive tests from Sept. 26-Oct. 2, noting many of the cases came from fraternities and sororities. The previous single-week high was 67 the week before. As of Oct. 5, the university said it currently has 14 fraternities and sororities in mandatory or voluntary quarantine.
“We continue to monitor the spread of COVID-19 on our Moscow campus. As a result of a rise in positive cases within our on-campus Greek community, our instructors have had the choice of going fully online for the last two weeks — some have, and some have not,” Jodi Walker, Idaho’s director of communications, wrote in an email.
“This week we began retesting the entire student body with additional optional surveillance testing of employees. Those results will inform what happens next. We work closely with our U of I modeling team (researchers who specialize in this area), Public Health, Gritman Medical Center and our medical consultant to make sure our decisions are science-based and meet the recommendations of our medical community.”
BYU-Idaho reports 77 active cases among students and 18 among employees as of Wednesday. The school sent a letter to students Sept. 25 warning of a possible campus closure if health guidelines are not followed.
“Due to their dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases, Madison County has been elevated to the high (orange) risk level,” according to an Eastern Idaho Public Health news release. “Escalation to this level serves as a warning that the situation is becoming more serious and if a person hasn’t adopted the four key risk reduction strategies, now would be a great time to start.”
Those risk reduction strategies, according to EIPH, include staying home when sick and monitoring your health, washing hands or using hand sanitizer, maintaining physical distance of at least 6 feet from others, and wearing a face covering when not able to physical distance.
The White House report also cites “rapidly increasing cases and test positivity among 12-17-year-olds” in Bannock, Bingham, Blaine, Custer, Elmore, Franklin, Gem, Gooding, Twin Falls and Washington counties. The rise suggests outbreaks “may be related to school openings,” according to the report.
There are 23 counties in the Gem State that have reached red-zone status under the task force’s guidelines for the week of Sept. 26-Oct. 2. Those counties, sorted from highest to lowest by the number of new cases in the last three weeks, are Bonneville, Madison, Twin Falls, Bannock, Bingham, Latah, Jefferson, Cassia, Payette, Idaho, Minidoka, Power, Fremont, Jerome, Gem, Caribou, Franklin, Blaine, Gooding, Washington, Teton, Lemhi and Camas.
Although Ada and Canyon counties ranked No. 1 and No. 3, respectively, for the highest number of new cases over the last three weeks, both land in the orange zone with new cases between 51 and 100 per 100,000 and a lab test positivity between 8% and 10%. The other counties in the orange zone are Kootenai and Butte.
The task force indicates 68% of Idaho counties have moderate or high levels of community transmission, with 52% having high levels of transmission.
“Even though response is localized, it would help to clarify public health stance through strong recommendations for social distancing and requirements for face coverings in all indoor settings outside of the home in all counties where the seven-day average case rates exceed 50 per 100,000 population and test positivity exceeds 5%,” the report states.
“Consider limiting hours or occupancy in non-seated indoor bars in highly targeted areas if cases continue to escalate.”
BYU-Idaho did not respond to a request for comment.
This story was originally published October 8, 2020 at 3:39 PM.
