COVID-19 cases surge again in Idaho. Ada County remains at high risk. What to know now
Idaho’s COVID-19 news keeps getting worse.
Just-released data shows that COVID-19 cases continue to trend upward. More COVID-19 patients are being admitted to Boise-area hospitals, and more are occupying those hospitals’ beds. Positive results in COVID-19 tests are still rising too.
As for masking? Most local residents still aren’t bothering with them except when required in health care and work settings, but Ada County is stuck in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s red zone. And with the latest data, Canyon County is now red, too. Red means the CDC still recommends universal masking indoors.
The CDC uses three metrics to measure how severe the disease risk is in each county, and how strained local health systems are. The CDC tallies the number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population, the number of new COVID-19 patients at hospitals per 100,000 population, and the percentage of hospital beds filled by COVID-19 patients.
Here’s what the metrics say:
Case rates. CDC numbers released Thursday show Ada County’s case rate increased from 249 per 100,000 people the previous week to nearly 303, a nearly 22% increase. Canyon County’s case rate rose to 264.
Hospital admissions. In Ada County, COVID-19 admissions rose from 19.2 per 100,000 people to 19.8. In Canyon County, admissions also reached 19.8.
Hospital beds filled. Ada County’s rate rose from from 8% of staffed inpatient beds in use by confirmed COVID-19 patients to 9.7%. Canyon County’s rate also increased to 9.7%.
State data show that as of Monday, 169 hospital patients had COVID-19 patients, and 15 were in intensive care.
“When I look at the hospitalizations and their increase, it means that not only are we having a surge, but our surge has probably been going on more than two weeks,” Dr. David Pate, a member of Gov. Brad Little’s Coronavirus Working Group, told the Idaho Statesman by phone. “The problem is, I can’t tell if we’re plateauing.”
Positive test results. This metric is not used by the CDC, but hospital officials track it. Last week, statewide positivity rates increased to 15.5%, up from 14.3% the week of June 20.
The percentage has been rising since late March. At the start of June, the rate was 9.6%, according to data from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
Public health experts say this metric doesn’t provide a complete representation of the disease in Idaho, because of the widespread use of at-home tests. That means the actual rate is almost certainly higher than 15.5%, which is three times the 5% benchmark experts use to indicate control of the respiratory disease.
“A large group of people are testing, but they’re using at-home rapid tests, and those are not reported to the state,” Pate said. “Whatever the cases are now, they’re under-reported. We have to assume they’re actually higher.”
Pate said many people with mild cases of COVID-19 are not bothering to test at all.
Ada, Canyon, Boise, Elmore counties in red
Ada, Canyon, Boise and Elmore counties are all still listed at the highest COVID-19 community level — the red zone. Canyon County was previously listed at medium risk. Now it’s listed as high.
Last week, the CDC rated Canyon County at medium risk — the yellow zone — where immunocompromised people are recommended to speak with a health care provider about whether to wear a mask.
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