The Idaho Way: Reform the health districts
By Scott McIntosh, Opinion editor
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The coronavirus pandemic has laid bare the need for some reforms in Idaho. The Legislature has identified some areas it would like to work on: the ability to meet remotely, the ability to call itself back into session, securing its checks and balance power in approving spending and setting parameters for election dates and process.
Add to that list the state’s system of public health districts. Idaho’s seven districts were established by law 50 years ago. The law divided the state into seven public health districts. Notably, Ada County is in one district, Central District Health, while Canyon County is in another, Southwest District Health. That needs to change, as is evidenced by the fractured response to the handling of COVID-19 cases and mask mandates, despite the fact that Canyon and Ada counties are inextricably connected.
Further, the governing boards of these districts are made up primarily of county commissioners from each of the districts. The Southwest District Health board includes county commissioners from six counties — Washington, Payette, Gem, Canyon, Owyhee and Adams. That last county, Adams, is represented by commissioner Viki Purdy, who has posted anti-mask, conspiracy theory and misinformation on her Facebook page.
Read our editorial calling for the Legislature to revamp the public health districts.
Bizarre Southwest Health District meeting
It was the most bizarre government agency meeting I’ve witnessed in my 26 years in journalism. About 200 people logged onto the Zoom call for Thursday’s meeting of the Southwest District Health board, including dozens of people who didn’t turn their video off. People in their cars, upside-down videos, people on their couches. But the most bizarre: A couple butchering an animal on their dining table. Eventually, after some technical glitches, the meeting was canceled when Ammon Bundy and his supporters stormed the Southwest District Health building like revolutionaries storming the Bastille.
Read our coverage of the Southwest District Health board meeting here.
Governor’s lack of leadership on the issue
Our editorial board urged Gov. Brad Little to show more leadership when it comes to mandating masks and sounding the alarm about spiking cases. Idaho does not need a statewide, one-size-fits-all solution, but Idaho has some serious, dangerous hotspots, and those decisions are getting pushed down without a coordinated message. You can read that editorial here.
‘Defund the police’ rally and counterprotest planned in Boise
Given our climate of political incivility bordering on hostility, I am concerned about potential violence at a planned “Defund the Police” rally on Tuesday in Boise, which counterprotesters have vowed to attend. Our editorial board spoke with Boise’s new Police Chief Ryan Lee about the upcoming rally and counterprotest.
No data, no hospitalizations?
For a few weeks now, “the media” has been criticized for focusing too much on just the number of new coronavirus cases, with the suggestion somehow that it’s not a good indicator, because a lot of people are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms and recover. Hospitalizations is a better metric to use because it tells us the trend of serious cases. It also indicates whether we’re close to overwhelming our health care system. Unfortunately, it’s now going to be harder for Idaho to keep track of how many COVID-19 patients are hospitalized around the state and how many hospital beds, ICU beds and ventilators are available.
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