Relentless Idaho COVID-19 surge: State adds over 2,500 cases — 707 in Ada — and 32 deaths
The Gem State added more than 2,500 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday — a count that includes the Labor Day weekend — as the pandemic continued its stranglehold on Idaho and the state government formally began rationing care in North Idaho.
Idaho’s 2,551 new cases since Sept. 3 bring the total tally since the start of the pandemic to 228,085, according to data from the Department of Health and Welfare. Three counties accounted for more than half of the new cases, with 707 added in Ada, 454 in Canyon and 276 in Kootenai, which is where the crisis is having the greatest impact right now.
The state also added 32 deaths. Five of the people who died were younger than 60, according to state demographic data.
After weeks of warnings, the state implemented crisis standards of care in two health districts in North Idaho after a major hospital, Kootenai Health in Coeur d’Alene, made the request. The new standards, which are implemented when health care systems don’t have enough resources to provide all patients with standard levels of care, apply in the Panhandle Health District and the North Central district.
Health and Welfare Director Dave Jeppesen made the decision after a recommendation from the Crisis Standards of Care Activation Advisory Committee, according to a news release. It’s the first time the standards have been implemented; the state came close last winter during another coronavirus surge.
In the state’s release, Gov. Brad Little called the move “an unprecedented and unwanted point” in Idaho history.
“We have taken so many steps to avoid getting here, but yet again we need to ask more Idahoans to choose to receive the COVID-19 vaccine,” he added.
According to state data, only 49.3% of Idahoans 12 or older are fully vaccinated, which is one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country.
On Sept. 3, there were 509 patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 in Idaho hospitals, according to state data, and 161 COVID-19 patients were in intensive care. There are currently only nine staffed and available ICU beds available across the state.
On Monday, Park School, in Weiser, became the latest in the greater Boise area to temporarily shut down due to COVID-19-related issues. Several staff members will be out this week, and the school has a shortage of substitute teachers, according to a release. The shortage led the school to close on Sept. 7-8.
The school has no mask requirement, according to its COVID-19 response plan.
Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 10,078 hospitalizations, 1,689 admissions to an intensive care unity and 11,617 health care workers infected with COVID-19. Out of the more than 228,000 recorded cases, the state says there have been 3,902 so-called breakthrough cases, in which someone fully vaccinated contracts the virus. That number translates to less than 2% of cases.
For a county-by-county breakdown of Monday’s new cases, see our “What we know” file at IdahoStatesman.com.
This story was originally published September 7, 2021 at 8:01 PM.
