COVID-19: Idaho passes milestone 1K deaths in Ada County, record low test positivity
Idaho passed two COVID-19 milestones this week: a record-low test positivity rate and the first county to reach 1,000 reported deaths. This comes as case numbers continued to plummet following the omicron variant surge.
On Thursday, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare reported a test positivity rate — the percentage of COVID-19 tests that return positive results — of just 2.5%, the lowest the state has recorded since the start of the pandemic. Just two months ago, the agency reported a record high of 37.9% test positivity.
Officials have worked through nearly all of the thousands of backlogged cases from the omicron surge that skewed case numbers for weeks. By Friday, only 400 backlogged cases remained, IDHW said. The backlog included tens of thousands of cases at its peak.
Since last Friday, Idaho has recorded 4,007 new COVID-19 cases and 15 deaths. Three of the reported deaths were in Ada County, which has the state’s highest death toll. The newly reported deaths brought Ada County’s total deaths to 1,000 — about one-fifth of the 4,834 deaths statewide.
Long-term care
At long-term care facilities, 122 new cases have been recorded in the past week.
As of Friday, Health and Welfare reports there are 9,354 active coronavirus cases among 146 long-term care facilities. There are 215 facilities with resolved outbreaks.
To date, 1,099 people from 230 facilities in Idaho have died from COVID-19-related causes — nine more than were reported last Friday. Long-term care deaths account for about 23% of the 4,834 in the state.
Weekly snapshot
Vaccine doses administered in Idaho: 2,305,469, according to Health and Welfare. Of those, 928,195 people have been fully vaccinated, which accounts for 54.2% of Idahoans age 5 and older.
Test positivity rate: Out of the 18,751 COVID-19 tests conducted for the week of March 6 - March 12, 2.5% came back positive.
