Idaho’s COVID-19 week: 8,564 new cases, 186 deaths. ‘It’s just been heartbreaking’
With crisis standards of care still active statewide, Idaho added 8,564 new COVID-19 cases in the past week, according to data from the Department of Health and Welfare, and also saw its death toll grow substantially.
The state added 1,682 of those new cases on Friday. Because of the high number of reported cases in recent weeks, local health districts are still experiencing a backlog of around 7,900 cases, meaning that the actual number of new cases is likely significantly higher.
The state also added 53 deaths on Friday, for a total of 186 in the past week. The state’s fatality rate has been creeping up since mid-summer. It was 1.10% on July 29 and climbed to 1.16% on Friday.
In recent days, the number of patients in Idaho hospitals and intensive care beds has declined slightly, but ICUs are still over capacity, and other hospital beds at many hospitals are nearly full, according to officials. On Tuesday, Health and Welfare Director Dave Jeppesen said it was too soon to say whether the surge was shifting.
Part of the reason that the number of occupied hospital beds has fallen a little is there have been so many deaths, Jeppesen and others said.
“It’s just been heartbreaking for all of our teams to have the number of deaths that we have seen over the course of the last couple of weeks,” Dr. Frank Johnson, chief medical officer for St. Luke’s Health System hospitals in Boise, Elmore County and McCall, told the Idaho Statesman on Friday.
At the St. Luke’s Boise hospital, eight people died from COVID-19 on Thursday. At its Magic Valley hospital, 11 people died in one day earlier this week. In the hospital system’s intensive care units, the death rate is around 50%, and many of the people dying are younger than 50.
“The people who are dying are younger people with families, with kids, who just as recently as a month or two ago were active, vibrant, healthy participants in our community,” Johnson said.
Of the deaths reported Friday, two were in their 50s, four were in their 40s, two were in their 30s and two were between the ages of 18 and 29, according to updated demographics from Health and Welfare.
In St. Luke’s hospitals on Friday, all of their usual intensive care beds were full, and regular hospital beds were more than 70% full, officials said. On Wednesday, there were 709 patients hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 in Idaho, and 176 COVID-19 patients in an intensive care unit, according to Health and Welfare.
Despite the large numbers of patients, Johnson stressed that residents in need of medical attention should seek care.
“For all our community members, for all of our neighbors, if you’re sick, if you need care, please come to your care provider ... come and get evaluated and get the care that you need,” he said.
Since the start of the pandemic, 12,052 health care workers have been infected with COVID-19, 11,620 people have been hospitalized and 1,927 people have entered an intensive care unit. There have been 267,663 recorded cases.
LITTLE AND MCGEACHIN
On Tuesday, Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin garnered the state national attention when she attempted to ban state agencies and schools from requiring proof of vaccination or mandatory testing for Idahoans.
She issued an executive order about what she called “vaccine passports” on Tuesday, while the governor was out of state in Texas. She also signaled a desire to deploy the Idaho National Guard at the U.S.-Mexico border. Under Idaho law, the powers of the governor go to the lieutenant governor when the governor is out of state.
But before his return, Little reversed McGeachin’s executive order, which may prompt a court battle. In April, Little issued his own executive order forbidding state agencies from requiring vaccinations.
LONG-TERM CARE UPDATE
As of Friday, Health and Welfare reports that there are 6,571 active coronavirus cases among 142 facilities, which is 85 more than the 6,486 reported on Oct. 1. There are 200 facilities with resolved outbreaks.
To date, 868 people from 196 facilities in Idaho have died from COVID-19-related causes — 13 more than were reported last Friday. Long-term care deaths account for about 28% of the 3,117 deaths in the state.
The most recent data from Health and Welfare show that 78% of Idahoans age 65 and older have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Below is a list of Idaho cities along with with the number of facilities in each city that have active cases of the coronavirus among residents and/or staff. For an outbreak to be considered “resolved,” more than 28 days must pass (two incubation periods) without any additional cases associated with the facility.
American Falls (1), Bellevue (1), Blackfoot (3), Boise (29), Buhl (2), Burley (2), Caldwell (5), Chubbuck (2), Coeur d’Alene (8), Eagle (2), Emmett (2), Fruitland (1), Garden City (1), Gooding (1), Grangeville (1), Hayden (1), Idaho Falls (5), Kuna (2), Lewiston (8), Malad (2), Meridian (16), Middleton (1), Montpelier (2), Moscow (3), Nampa (6), Orofino (1), Parma (1), Payette (1), Pinehurst (1), Pocatello (11), Post Falls (3), Rexburg (2), Rupert (1), Salmon (1), Sandpoint (3), St. Maries (1), Star (1), Twin Falls (10).
Visit coronavirus.idaho.gov for a complete list of long-term facilities with active cases this week.
WEEKLY SNAPSHOT
Vaccine doses administered in Idaho: 1,622,114, according to Health and Welfare. Of those, 798,684 people have been fully vaccinated, which accounts for 52.9% of Idahoans age 12 and older.
Test positivity rate: Out of the 41,682 COVID-19 tests conducted for the week of Sept. 26 - Oct. 2, 14.6% came back positive.
This story was originally published October 8, 2021 at 8:07 PM.
