Broken record: Idaho’s daily COVID case average hits highest point since start of pandemic
At this time last week, Idaho reached its highest seven-day moving average for new and confirmed cases of COVID-19 at 597.1 per day.
Fast forward one week and the state’s seven-day average has only grown. The Gem State hit an all-time high of 670.7 cases per day on Saturday — an increase of 12.3% from last week and 39.4% from Oct. 1.
Idaho reported a combined 483 new confirmed and 210 new probable cases of the coronavirus on Saturday for a total of 693 new cases. New deaths were announced in Ada (1 new, 157 total), Bingham (1 new, 15 total) and Power (1 new, 2 total) counties.
Southeastern Idaho Public Health said the Bingham County death was a male in his 70s, and the Power County death was a female in her 60s. Idaho has lost 532 residents to the virus, with a case fatality rate of about 1.01%.
Hospitalizations for patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 have increased significantly since the start of the month. On Oct. 1, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare reported 151 people hospitalized statewide, but that figure has since grown to 221 as of Oct. 14, which is the most recent day with data available. Idaho peaked at 242 hospitalizations on Aug. 3.
Thirty of Idaho’s 44 counties added new confirmed cases Saturday, including 10 with increases of 10 or more: Ada (65 new, 13,421 total), Kootenai (65 new, 3,223 total), Madison (60 new, 1,663 total), Cassia (47 new, 1,018 total), Bonneville (41 new, 3,019 total), Canyon (38 new, 8,535 total), Twin Falls (36 new, 2,878 total), Minidoka (34 new, 945 total), Jefferson (14 new, 688 total) and Payette (12 new, 927 total).
The other counties reporting new confirmed cases were Bannock (9 new, 1,457 total), Bingham (2 new, 1,134 total) Blaine (6 new, 768 total), Boise (1 new, 60 total), Bonner (2 new, 388 total), Boundary (1 new, 57 total), Clearwater (1 new, 104 total), Custer (1 new, 83 total), Elmore (6 new, 332 total), Franklin (8 new, 246 total), Fremont (9 new, 324 total), Gem (2 new, 334 total), Gooding (3 new, 356 total), Jerome (8 new, 831 total), Latah (1 new, 782 total), Lemhi (5 new, 145 total), Lewis (2 new, 62 total), Lincoln (1 new, 107 total), Nez Perce (5 new, 573 total) and Power (1 new, 293 total).
Health and Welfare removed two cases from Idaho County (275 total) and one from Caribou County (163 total). Cases are sometimes removed when an investigation reveals an individual’s permanent residence is in another county, health district or state.
There have been 46,877 confirmed cases reported since the start of the pandemic along with 5,828 probable cases. Health and Welfare estimates 25,679 people have recovered from the virus.
Note: The Idaho Statesman used data updates from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Southeastern Idaho Public Health and Eastern Idaho Public Health to determine Saturday’s case count.
Daily details
Overall hospitalizations: Health and Welfare reports that there have been 2,193 hospitalizations of people with COVID-19, 503 admissions to the ICU and 3,378 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. 16, the health system was reporting 59 patients in its hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 out of 463 patients overall. The health system reported a 14-day coronavirus test positivity rate of 11%.
Saint Alphonsus Health System: As of Oct. 16, the health system was reporting 31 patients in its hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 out of 359 patients overall. The health system reported a 14-day coronavirus test positivity rate of 12.4%.
Boise School District: The district says the following schools or units have reported confirmed COVID-19 cases among students or staff since Oct. 6: Amity Elementary (1), Boise Online School (1), Cynthia Mann Elementary (2), district services (2), Frank Church High School (2), Hidden Springs Elementary (1), Hawthorne Elementary (1), Koelsch Elementary (1), North Junior High (1), Riverside Elementary (1), Roosevelt Elementary (1), Valley View Elementary (1), White Pine Elementary (2), Whitney Elementary (1).
Testing totals: At the end of the day Saturday, Health and Welfare reported that 350,312 people had been tested statewide. About 13.4% of those have been positive for COVID-19.
Counties with community spread: All counties except Adams have been announced to have community spread.
Counties with confirmed COVID-19 cases: Ada 13,421, Adams 30, Bannock 1,457, Bear Lake 58, Benewah 161, Bingham 1,134, Blaine 768, Boise 60, Bonner 388, Bonneville 3,019, Boundary 57, Butte 68, Camas 31, Canyon 8,535, Caribou 163, Cassia 1,018, Clark 33, Clearwater 104, Custer 83, Elmore 332, Franklin 246, Fremont 324, Gem 334, Gooding 356, Idaho 275, Jefferson 688, Jerome 831, Kootenai 3,223, Latah 782, Lemhi 145, Lewis 62, Lincoln 107, Madison 1,663, Minidoka 945, Nez Perce 573, Oneida 35, Owyhee 331, Payette 927, Power 293, Shoshone 226, Teton 230, Twin Falls 2,878, Valley 99, Washington 384.
This story was originally published October 17, 2020 at 7:01 PM.
