COVID-19 positivity rate in Idaho falls again, a third straight week of steep declines
Idaho’s COVID-19 test positivity rate fell again the week of Feb. 6, marking another seven-day period of declining infection numbers as the omicron wave ebbs.
For that second week of February, the most recent data available, the positivity rate was 17%, falling from 24.8% recorded the week of Jan. 30-Feb. 5. The new data marks three weeks of steep declines after an all-time high rate of 37.9% the week of Jan. 16, according to figures from the Department of Health and Welfare.
Public health leaders aim for a rate of 5% or less to indicate control of a pandemic. Even with the declines in recent weeks, a rate of 17% is still among the highest percentages seen since the pandemic began in 2020.
As the rate has fallen, the overall number of PCR tests — a highly accurate form of test processed in a lab — has declined each week. More than 62,300 tests were recorded by the state the week of Jan. 16, when the omicron wave peaked, while only 22,623 were recorded the week of Feb. 6.
Health officials have also noted that the prevalence of at-home rapid tests, which are not processed by labs, means that the state’s positivity rate provides an incomplete picture of the current infection rate.
COVID-19 hospitalizations have declined in recent weeks, and Health and Welfare deactivated crisis standards of care in Southwest Idaho on Tuesday, a sign that the situation at hospitals is improving.
But health leaders say Idaho is still in a fragile state.
“It will be some time before health care systems return to full normal operations,” Dave Jeppesen, the director of Health and Welfare, said Tuesday.
This story was originally published February 17, 2022 at 6:12 PM.
