Idaho adds more than 2,000 new COVID-19 cases, 30 deaths. State chips away at backlog
Idaho added more than 2,000 new COVID-19 cases to the state’s total on Wednesday, but that actually might be good news.
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare has been working its way through a backlog of more than 11,000 cases as local public health districts struggle to keep up with case investigation data. The backlog stood at more than 7,800 cases on Tuesday, but that total dropped to 6,300 on Wednesday.
“About 60% of the backlog are reports received in the last 10 days,” said Niki Forbing-Orr, public information manager for Health and Welfare. “So (Wednesday’s) case numbers do include some of those cases.”
That means some of the 2,024 new COVID-19 cases reported Wednesday most likely were part of the backlog and not necessarily a sign of a big surge. There were 30 new coronavirus-related deaths added Wednesday, bringing the state’s total to 3,187 since the start of the pandemic.
Idaho’s case fatality rate is about 1.17%.
Ada County added 645 of the cases and 10 deaths Wednesday, and Bannock (143), Canyon (321) and Kootenai (203) counties all saw triple-digit case increases. Idaho’s seven-day moving average sits at more than 1,100 cases per day, the 34th consecutive day above 1,000.
Idaho’s COVID-19 hospitalizations dropped below 700 last week for the first time since mid-September. As of Monday, there were 653 hospitalized statewide, including 175 in intensive care. Those figures are down from highs of 793 and 213, respectively, on Sept. 24.
The most recent data from Health and Welfare show six children hospitalized with COVID-19, and there are currently seven adult ICU beds that are open, staffed and available for occupancy statewide.
St. Luke’s Health System is currently caring for 178 COVID-19 patients in its hospitals, with 88.89% of those patients being unvaccinated. Of its 41 patients in the ICU, 95.12% are not vaccinated.
“The truth is that vaccinated people in Idaho are five times less likely than unvaccinated people to contract (the) Delta (variant), making it much harder for them to spread it to others,” Health and Welfare director Dave Jeppesen wrote in a recent blog post addressing COVID-19 myths and misinformation.
“The vaccines are not failing — they provide excellent protection against hospitalization and death from COVID-19. But they are not perfect, and it is possible to become infected even after vaccination. However, people who receive the vaccine and do become infected are less likely to have serious illness resulting in hospitalization or death.”
Jeppesen also emphasized that the department and health care organizations in Idaho are not getting paid by pharmaceutical companies to promote the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Our mission is to help keep Idahoans safe and healthy so our children can stay in school, our economy can thrive, and our hospitals and health care systems can maintain capacity to treat everyone who needs care,” he wrote.
“We do not want anyone to feel the effects of COVID-19, because they can be devastating. We want to help protect you, your family, and your community. Vaccinations work, and we want to promote what works.”
More than 800,000 Idahoans 12 and older — or 53.4% of the eligible population — are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The national vaccination rate for those 12 and older is 66.2%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This story was originally published October 13, 2021 at 6:35 PM.
