Idaho hospitals report record COVID-19 cases in ICUs as state begins vaccinations
and last updated 2020-12-19 18:54:25-05
As Idaho races to vaccinate health care workers, hospitals reported a record number of COVID-19 patients requiring intensive care this week.
A total of 120 COVID-19 patients were in ICUs across the state Tuesday, according to updated data the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare reported Friday. That number decreased to 118 patients on Wednesday, the last day data from the state was available.
There were 467 Idahoans hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 on Wednesday. That number has fluctuated between 445 and 496 since Nov. 28.
At least 944 Idahoans had received the COVID-19 vaccination as of Friday, according to Health and Welfare.
Idaho won t receive as many COVID-19 vaccines as expected next week; positivity rate drops Rachel Roberts and Jacob Scholl, The Idaho Statesman
Dec. 17 Idaho will not receive as many doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine next week as it originally expected, according to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
Idaho s allotment for next week was reduced from 17,550 to 9,750 doses. We don t know why it was reduced. But our focus doesn t change health care workers will continue to receive the vaccine, IDHW said in a Twitter post.
The Gem State s first shipment of the vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech arrived Monday, and Health and Welfare expected to receive most of the initial 13,650-dose allotment.
Data backlog obscures true nature of Boise area s COVID-19 outbreak; 29 new deaths reported Chadd Cripe and Rachel Roberts, The Idaho Statesman
Dec. 17 The data dashboard for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare shows Ada County s COVID-19 incidence rate as one of the best in the state.
The daily number of new cases reported shows a raging outbreak.
The problem is that Central District Health has been inundated with so many cases that it s nearly two weeks and more than 2,500 case reports behind in its data tracking.
That means many of the 325 new confirmed cases reported Wednesday in Ada County were actually from early December. They are added to IDHW s data on the day they were originally reported to public health, so they don t hit the chart showing the county s cases per day per 100,000 people over the last seven days.
Health and Welfare adds COVID-19 vaccine tracker; Idaho reports more than 1,800 new cases
and last updated 2020-12-15 21:49:59-05
The public can now keep track of how many COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Idaho using the tracker posted on the Idaho Department of Health and Welfareâs website.
On Monday, health care workers at Madison Memorial Hospital in Rexburg were the first Idahoans to receive the new Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. As of Tuesday, 38 vaccine doses had been administered statewide, according to IDHW.
Hospitals throughout Idaho are expecting to receive their first vaccine shipments this week. These shipments are designated for hospital staff and outpatient clinic staff who provide care for COVID-19 patients, according to Health and Welfare.
Record positivity rates reported across Idaho as COVID-19 cases continue to soar Nicole Foy, The Idaho Statesman
The COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on Idaho continues to worsen by nearly every metric the state uses to track it.
Thursday, updated positivity rates reported by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare and local health districts broke records again. Roughly 20% of Idahoans tested were positive for the coronavirus last week, up from 18.3% the previous week. That means roughly one of every five Idahoans tested had the coronavirus last week.
Positivity rates for four of the state’s seven health districts also broke records. Boise-based Central District Health reported 18.5% positivity, health districts based in Coeur d’Alene (Panhandle) and Lewiston (North Central) reported 24% and 21.6% positivity rates and the Southeastern Idaho Public Health District based in Pocatello recorded a 15.5% positivity rate. Eastern Idaho Public Health District was at a