Idaho’s COVID-19 week: Positivity rate keeps falling, but new caseload exceeds 6,500
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Hospitalizations and Idaho’s test positivity rate continued a pattern of several weeks of decline this week, though caseloads remain high and hospitals remain overburdened with patients.
As of Oct. 27 — the most recent data available — there were 525 patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 at Idaho hospitals, which is down from last month’s peak of 793, but is still higher than during the surge last fall, when the peak was 496. In intensive care units, there were 147 COVID-19 patients on Oct. 27, down from the peak of 213 in September. Last December, the peak number of patients was 126.
Crisis standards of care remain active throughout the state, though not all hospitals are operating under crisis care plans.
Though the state’s test positivity rate lags a week behind, it dropped to 11.5% the week beginning Oct. 17, according to state data. That marked the sixth straight week the rate declined, although it is still more than double the 5% rate targeted by medical experts and the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare
Since Oct. 22, Idaho has added 6,594 new COVID-19 cases, with 1,076 of those coming on Friday. The state also reported 25 new deaths on Friday, for a total of 131 on the week.
Since early October, the state has been experiencing a backlog of COVID-19 cases as local health agencies struggle to make it through the large numbers of new cases. As of Friday, there were around 1,400 cases still outstanding, which is likely still distorting the number of cases reported each day.
FDA authorization for children
Also on Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization to the Pfizer vaccine for children age 5 to 11, the youngest age group that a COVID-19 vaccine has been authorized for.
The authorization will next be reviewed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which could sign off as early as next week, meaning that millions of children would become eligible to receive the shots.
As of Oct. 27, there were four pediatric patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Idaho, down from 15 on Oct. 2, according to state data. In total, 253 children have been hospitalized with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and 37 have suffered from Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), a rare and serious condition still being studied that usually occurs in children around four weeks after infection.
With Halloween approaching on Sunday, doctors in the Treasure Valley are recommending cautious celebrations. On its website, St. Luke’s Health System recommends that families “stick to small groups” while trick-or-treating, and remind their children to “keep their distance from people outside your group.”
The health system recommends masking in crowded outdoor areas, noting that costume masks are not a substitute for protective masks.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Health and Welfare Public Health Administrator Elke Shaw-Tulloch also recommended families that carry hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
“We don’t want our holiday season to turn into another spike in cases,” she said. “Everyone can stay safe on Halloween while trick-or-treating ... It’s the perfect time of year to wear a mask while you’re in close quarters and going door to door.”
Also on Friday, Gov. Brad Little joined a multistate lawsuit challenging President Joe Biden’s executive order requiring that federal contractors be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Dec. 8.
“President Biden’s federal contractor vaccine mandate not only harms Idaho workers and businesses that partner with the federal government, but it forces states to implement Biden mandates that are without legal precedent,”
the governor said in a Friday news release. “This is coercive federal overreach, and it must be stopped.”
Idaho has one of the lowest rates of vaccination of any state, which public health officials have linked to the state’s large surge of hospital patients and deaths this fall. Nearly all COVID-19 hospitalizations, ICU patients and deaths since May have been among unvaccinated people, according to Health and Welfare and hosptial systems.
As of Friday, only 55% of eligible Idahoans were fully vaccinated.
Long-term care update
As of Friday, Health and Welfare reports that there are 6,588 active coronavirus cases among 136 facilities. There are 209 facilities with resolved outbreaks.
To date, 915 people from 203 facilities in Idaho have died from COVID-19-related causes — 20 more than were reported last Friday. Long-term care deaths account for about 26% of the 3,534 deaths in the state.
The most recent data from Health and Welfare show that 79.5% of Idahoans age 65 and older have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Below is a list of Idaho cities along with the number of facilities in each city that have active cases 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 (2), Bannock (1), Bellevue (1), Blackfoot (3), Boise (27), Bonners Ferry (3), Buhl (1), Burley (1), Caldwell (2), Chubbuck (1), Coeur d’Alene (9), Downey (1), Eagle (4), Emmett (1), Fruitland (1), Garden City (1), Grangeville (1), Hayden (2), Idaho Falls (4), Jerome (1), Kuna (2), Lava Hot Springs (1), Lewiston (8), Malad (2), McCall (1), Meridian (12), Middleton (1), Montpelier (1), Moscow (1), Mountain Home (1), Nampa (7), Parma (1), Pinehurst (1), Pocatello (10), Post Falls (3), Rathdrum (1), Rexburg (2), Rupert (1), Salmon (1), Sandpoint (3), St. Maries (1), Star (1), Twin Falls (8), Winchester (1).
Visit coronavirus.idaho.gov for a complete list of long-term facilities with active cases this week.
WEEKLY SNAPSHOT
Vaccine doses administered in Idaho: 1,674,430, according to Health and Welfare. Of those, 829,332 people have been fully vaccinated, which accounts for 55% of Idahoans age 12 and older.
Test positivity rate: Out of the 34,281 COVID-19 tests conducted for the week of Oct. 17-23, 11.5% came back positive.
For a full list of daily numbers on a county-by-county basis, visit our “What We Know” story.
Idaho Statesman reporter Hayat Norimine contributed.
This story was originally published October 29, 2021 at 8:22 PM.
