We’ve provided essential investigative COVID-19 reporting to Idaho. Now, we need your help
Sarah. Craig. DeAnne. Danny. Matt. Lucas. Bud. Tammy.
These are the Idahoans I know personally — my dear friends and family — who have tested positive for COVID-19.
They’re the people I’ve had in the back of my mind, praying they’ll be OK, for the days and weeks after their results came back. They’re the people I hope have no long-term health problems because of the coronavirus. They, along with my 90-year-old grandfather who resides in a Pocatello assisted-living facility, are the people I hold close to my heart as I edit Statesman stories related to the pandemic. They’re the people I first think about as we make decisions about which stories to pursue for our coronavirus coverage.
»» Contribute to The Idaho Statesman COVID-19 Investigative Fund
More than 58,500 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Idaho, along with another nearly 9,000 probable cases. About 650 people have died in the Gem State because of the virus.
Sarah, Craig, DeAnne, Danny, Matt, Lucas, Bud and Tammy are more than just a statistic to me, as I’m sure the people in your own lives affected by the virus mean more than a number on a stat sheet to you.
Since March 13, when Idaho’s first reported case was announced to the public, we have produced hundreds of stories, videos and Live Q&As with experts online to shine a light on the detrimental effects of the virus on Idaho’s hospitals, its economy and the health of its people.
We’ve held public officials accountable to ensure Idahoans know where cases are reported in our state’s long-term care facilities, public schools and workplaces by pushing back on public records that have been denied to us, and, more importantly, to you the public. We have told the untold story of how the virus disproportionately affects Idaho’s growing Latino population, and we’ve provided our coverage in Spanish to other news outlets across the state to make sure we’re reaching that community with fact- and science-based reporting. We have continued to tell the stories of our hospitals — and our heroic health care workers who show up day in and day out to treat the sick and dying — which are increasingly running out of room for patients.
And we vow to continue doing so. But we need your help.
This fall, we’ve launched an online fundraising page at to help support the salaries of our staff during this unprecedented and still economically rocky time. It is no secret that the journalism industry’s traditional model, which relied heavily on print advertising, had already been decimated before the pandemic began. Now, as our valued advertisers face hard, painful budgetary decisions of their own, that trajectory has become even more tenuous for us as the months go by.
Donations to this fund will help keep our Idaho Statesman reporters and photographers doing what they do best: providing essential breaking news updates about changes to the Idaho Rebounds plan and diving into investigative health care reporting, led by Assistant Editor Chadd Cripe and longtime Statesman watchdog reporter Audrey Dutton.
Nearly every major media company in the United States has had to furlough reporters and photographers at a time when the public needs vital information the most, including many of our fellow Idaho press colleagues across the state. Other newspapers have shuttered their doors for good, never to return.
Your continued support, either through a donation or a subscription, means the world to us.
Supporting local journalism means supporting democracy, the public’s right to know what we’re up against and access to vital information for the Idaho communities that need it most.
To those of you who have already given generously to our fundraising campaign, thank you. To those of you who have been loyal print subscribers to the Statesman for decades, thank you. To our 10,500 — and growing — digital subscriber base, thank you.
We simply would not exist without you.
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If you prefer to send a check: Please make it out to the Local Media Foundation and in the notes field on the check, write “the Idaho Statesman.” If you include your email address, they will send you a tax donation letter.
The check should be mailed to: Local Media Foundation, PO Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689-5015.
This story was originally published November 8, 2020 at 4:00 AM.