Gov. Little plans COVID-19 announcement as hospitalizations hit a pandemic high in Idaho
Idaho Gov. Brad Little will make an announcement regarding COVID-19 at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to a news release from the governor’s office. His announcement comes as Idaho hit a new high for the number of patients hospitalized and in the intensive care unit with COVID-19.
The governor’s office did not specify what Little will address during the announcement, which will be livestreamed at IdahoStatesman.com.
On Monday, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s COVID-19 data dashboard showed a record number of patients hospitalized or in the ICU with COVID-19. On Saturday and Sunday, respectively, the agency reported 500 and 496 patients hospitalized. The previous record was 496 patients on Dec. 1, 2020. IDHW also recorded a record 160 patients in ICUs across the state Sunday, part of a record-breaking surge of ICU admissions.
IDHW reported 2,276 new COVID-19 cases since Friday. More than a quarter of those were in Ada County, which reported 608. Canyon County reported 477 cases, while Kootenai and Twin Falls counties reported 188 and 155 cases, respectively.
Numerous counties reported cases in the double digits. Only Clark and Camas counties — Idaho’s two least-populated — reported no new cases over the weekend.
The surge has bumped Idaho’s seven-day moving average of new cases to 879 per day, the highest since early January. In the past week, Ada County has added an average of 230 cases per day, while Canyon County has reported about 146 new cases daily.
Health officials also reported four new COVID-19-related deaths Monday. Three were in Ada County (518 total), while the fourth was in Twin Falls County (144 total). To date, 2,331 Idahoans have died in connection with COVID-19.
Idaho has reported 220,162 cases since the pandemic arrived in March 2020. Roughly 120,000 people have reportedly recovered from the disease.
For a county-by-county breakdown of Monday’s new cases and deaths, see our “What we know” file at IdahoStatesman.com.
This story was originally published August 30, 2021 at 6:47 PM.
