Teton Valley residents warned about dangerously rising caseloads
DRIGGS, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK)-Teton County, Idaho officials have issued an urgent public health advisory, calling on the community to take immediate action to reduce the spread of COVID-19. If not taken seriously, says the order, "additional actions could occur at the state or local level (including the schools) to protect the health of our citizens and their access to critical health care."
According to the order, community transmission is widespread across all ages, especially in areas of the community where use of masks and social distancing is not occurring. Those include small social and family visits, work and carpooling.
Teton Valley Health CEO Keith Gnagey said, "Higher positivity and active rates will translate into increased hospitalizations, further taxing the hospitals in our region, which are already operating at or near capacity. Hospitals in surrounding states are also at capacity, which means that the health system may not be able to offer the same level of car to patients in need."
As of Sunday, Teton County reached a record high of 48.6 in its active rate per 10,000 people. If that continues, County officials warned the county will be in a critical risk category by mid-week.
Teton Valley was moved into the High Risk Category by the Eastern Idaho Public Health Department on Friday.
County residents are being asked to take additional steps to reduce risk. Those include:
• Wear face coverings and maintain physical distancing when in settings (both private and public) with people not in your immediate household, including when you may feel “safe” from COVID19 exposure. Examples of these settings include small social events, intimate dinner parties, kids’ birthday and sleepover parties, carpooling, and working with a close co-worker.
• Maintain physical distance of at least 6 feet from individuals outside of your immediate household.
• Minimize non-essential trips, errands, and gatherings.
o Essential activities include examples such as grocery shopping, going to the bank, going to the doctor, getting gas, collecting curbside take out from a local restaurant, going to school, and recreating outdoors while practicing physical distancing.
o Grocery stores continue to be restocked on a regular basis. There is no need to hoard supplies.
Regardless of which risk category Teton County is in, continue to abide by the following safety precautions:
• Wear a face covering in both private and public settings when physical distance of at least 6 feet from others outside of your immediate family household is not possible or is hard to maintain.
o Face coverings continue to be required to be worn while in public places throughout Teton County Idaho.
• Stay home if you are sick, even mildly sick.
• Frequently wash hands for at least 20 seconds or use hand sanitizer.
You can find more information on controlling spread of the disease here.
