Idaho’s COVID numbers drop slightly, crisis standards remain

By REBECCA BOONE
Associated Press

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho Division of Public Health Administrator Elke Shaw-Tulloch says the rate of COVID-19 hospitalizations and newly confirmed coronavirus cases has been dropping in Idaho, but the numbers are still high enough to leave hospitals overtaxed. That means hospitals will remain under a “crisis standards of care” designation for now, giving them the ability to ration health care as needed to deal with high numbers of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units and hospital beds. Shaw-Tulloch said Tuesday that Idaho’s positivity rate of new cases is still more than double the 5% goal set by the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.