COVID-19 transmission in the Boise area is high. What we know, and what the CDC says
The latest coronavirus update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows parts of Idaho are grappling with high transmission.
Ada and Canyon counties are in the yellow zone, or medium-risk category, on the CDC’s weekly COVID-19 community level dashboard. Boise and Elmore counties are in the red zone, or high-risk category.
“Not too late to get your bivalent COVID vaccine and flu shot. Do so right away,” said Dr. David Pate, former CEO of the St. Luke’s Health System in Boise, in a Thursday tweet. “This is the time to wear masks when indoors with people who do not live with you.”
The CDC uses community levels, calculated using the latest information, to determine risk and help people decide what prevention strategies might be warranted to avoid exposure to the disease. The criteria are based mostly on hospitalization statistics.
In the medium-risk category, the agency recommends immunocompromised people talk with their health care provider about whether to wear a mask and take other precautions. Only in the red zone, or high-risk category, is everyone advised to wear a mask indoors and on public transportation.
With the holidays just around the corner, Pate urged Idaho residents to take greater precautions. In another post Thursday on Twitter, he noted a sharp rise in flu and respiratory syncytial virus, which causes cold-like symptoms.
Pate also said that, in some ways, hospitals in the state are now conducting themselves the way they did under crisis standards of care: canceling elective surgeries, managing inpatients in unusual settings and boarding patients in emergency rooms for extended periods of time.
“Hospital capacity under pressure in all of Pacific (Northwest),” Pate wrote. “@StLukesHealth receiving transfers in from as far away as Alaska and Northern California.”
Here’s what the latest CDC data on COVID-19 shows:
Case rates. With 438 people recorded as having COVID-19, Ada County’s rate of illness fell to 91 per 100,000 people, a 7% decrease. Canyon County had 179 reported cases, and its rate fell slightly to 77.8 per 100,000, a 1% decrease.
Hospital admissions. Ada County had an estimated 48 admissions and Canyon County 23. Their combined admissions totaled 10 per 100,000 people. In comparison, the rates were 6.2 per 100,000 people the first week in November.
Hospital beds filled. Staffed inpatient beds in use by confirmed COVID-19 patients in Ada and Canyon counties were 6.4%, up from 6.3% the previous week.
Red alert for community transmission rates
The CDC also monitors coronavirus rates in a metric called community transmission.
Ada and Canyon counties are now in the second-highest category with “substantial” transmission rates. Canyon County was previously in the highest, or red, category.
Boise and Elmore counties are in the high-risk red zone. Only four counties across the state, Camas, Lincoln, Custer and Clark, have reported a low transmission rate of the disease.
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