COVID-19: Idaho adds 996 cases, 5 deaths over the weekend; holiday prevents Monday update
Over the weekend, Idaho added 996 new COVID-19 cases and five deaths to its totals.
While COVID-19 caseloads have declined significantly in much of the country since the middle of September, daily case counts are still high in Idaho, and hospitals are still operating under crisis standards of care.
Due to the Columbus Day holiday, the Department of Health and Welfare did not update its data dashboard on Monday, so the day’s new data reflects cases reported on Saturday and Sunday.
As of Monday, the state’s 7-day moving average of new cases is nearly 1,366, according to state data.
Idaho has the sixth-highest per capita case rate in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And, due to a backlog of around 8,600 cases that has slowed down the state’s reporting process, Idaho’s rate over the last few weeks is likely significantly higher.
In addition, Idaho is tied with Wyoming for the second-lowest vaccination rate in the nation. According to Health and Welfare, 52.9% percent of Idahoans 12 or older are fully vaccinated, compared to 65.8% nationwide.
Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 11,626 hospitalizations, 1,930 people sent to an intensive care unit and 12,056 health care workers infected with COVID-19. Idaho has reported 3,122 deaths.
Over the weekend, the state also subtracted one COVID-19 death from Adams County (7 total), as well as three cases from Bingham (6,275 total) and Nez Perce (5,851 total) counties, and nine cases from Bannock County (12,358 total).
There have been a total of 268,659 cases statewide.
Also on Monday, a pharmaceutical company applied to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorization of an antiviral pill that, if authorized, could help treat high-risk COVID-19 patients more inexpensively than the currently available monoclonal antibody treatments. The pill, developed by Merck, was found to cut hospitalizations in half during a clinical trial of unvaccinated adults.
A decision from the FDA on the pill could come in the next few weeks, according to The Associated Press.
For a full list of the weekend’s county-by-county totals, visit our “What we know” story.
