Watch: Q&A on our COVID-19 coverage and how it impacts you
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We are also continuing to accept questions in the form at the bottom of this story.
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Even as someone who has been editing stories about Idaho’s COVID-19 caseloads every day for four months now, Central District Health’s decision Monday to move Ada County back to Stage 3 of the reopening process came somewhat as a surprise to me.
It shouldn’t have.
On Saturday, 117 confirmed cases were reported. 221 were reported Monday. 152 Tuesday. 214 Wednesday. On Thursday, Gov. Brad Little announced that the state would stay in Stage 4 of the reopening plan for at least another two weeks, largely because reported cases have spiked for the Gem State’s health care workers. Ada County, bearing the brunt of those statistics, remains in Stage 3 for the foreseeable future.
As desperately as we would like it to be, the coronavirus pandemic is far from over in this country — and in this state.
To learn more about what this means for the Treasure Valley and Idaho, and to gain insight about how the Idaho Statesman will continue to cover this volatile situation day-in and day-out, join us for a live online Q&A at noon Tuesday, June 30.
The discussion — which you can take part in on the Statesman’s Facebook and YouTube pages and watch on idahostatesman.com — will feature arguably the most knowledgeable and experienced reporters to cover the pandemic since day one: Idaho Statesman assistant editor Chadd Cripe and longtime Statesman health care and consumer watchdog reporter Audrey Dutton.
Through Chadd’s persistent leadership, the Statesman has kept a running tally of every COVID-19 case — and every COVID-19-related death — reported in the state of Idaho since the first case was reported in March. He’s consistently crunched the numbers to ensure Idaho has met each benchmark to move into new stages of reopening the economy and held health officials to account in the process.
Audrey, whose deep expertise in reporting about the health care field has come through in each of her stories, has also been instrumental in holding officials accountable, especially as the coronvirus has made its way into our nursing homes throughout the state.
In May, Audrey requested public information on which nursing homes and long-term care facilities in Idaho had cases. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare denied our public records request for that information until the Statesman said it would file a lawsuit to access that public information.
That’s how we know, as of June 19, there were 323 coronavirus infections at 34 care facilities in Idaho. The facilities include nursing homes, assisted living facilities and group homes — of which there are a total of about 400 operating in the state. Of those, 146 cases of COVID-19 and 28 deaths are associated with care facilities in the Magic Valley.
Idahoans have taken note of our efforts and have been kind enough to continue to support our coronavirus coverage through a fundraising effort we concluded last month.
Thanks to 337 donations from familiar faces (thanks, Mom!), total strangers and longtime subscribers, we raised $22,327 of our $68,000 goal for our Coronavirus Local Reporting Fund. Newspapers across the country have faced financial hardship like nearly every other industry, and the Idaho Statesman is no different. The money you helped us raise has been used to keep our reporters and photographers working around the clock to provide up-to-the-minute updates on the state’s response to the pandemic.
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.
As we’ll discuss during our Live Q&A on Tuesday, we remain dedicated to continuing to bring you quality journalism during this historic and unprecedented time.
Have a question you’d like us to address? You can submit yours ahead of time using an online Google survey found at https://bit.ly/Statesman_COVIDQuestions.
I welcome you to join us.
This story was originally published June 26, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
