More than 5 dozen Idaho residents confirmed to have COVID-19
BOISE, Idaho (AP) - With more than five dozen confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Idaho Monday, agencies, businesses and schools continued to work to slow the spread of the illness.
Boise State University urged students to move away from dormitory-style housing if they can, and like the University of Idaho, Idaho State University and other higher education institutions across Idaho, has moved all classes online.
Officials with the West Ada Public Schools District, the largest in the state, is working on a remote learning plan in case schools need to be closed for an extended period.
Central District Health, which serves the Boise region, on Sunday asked any Ada County residents who have recently traveled to Ketchum, Sun Valley, Hailey or surrounding areas to shelter in place for two weeks, and health officials in eastern Idaho asked residents who traveled to the same area to call for further instructions. The towns are all in Blaine County, which has at least confirmed 35 cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. The entire county was placed under a shelter-in-place order by Idaho Gov. Brad Little last week.
Fourteen of those Blaine County cases were in health care workers, including two emergency room doctors at St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center, the Idaho Mountain Express reported. St. Luke's public relations manager Joy Prudek told the newspaper that privacy concerns prevented her from commenting on the exact number of healthcare providers at the hospital who were out sick, self-quarantining or who have tested positive for the virus. She said staffers and health care providers from other facilities within the St. Luke's Regional Health System have been sent to the local medical center to help out.
The State Board of Pharmacy, meanwhile, last week enacted a temporary rule limiting the situations in which pharmacists can dispense new prescriptions for chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine. The anti-malarial drugs are often prescribed for some serious autoimmune diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, but both medications have been the subject of limited scientific studies to see if they can aid in the treatment of COVID-19. That's caused a run on the medications, complicated access for people who need them for their chronic illnesses. Idaho's temporary rules include a requirement that people with new prescriptions for the drugs have a diagnosis that supports the need for the medication.
There are at least 65 people confirmed to have COVID-19 statewide, according to counts from Idaho's public health districts.
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare reported 50 confirmed cases statewide on Monday at 5 p.m. but that does not include some cases local public health districts have announced.
The state case counts are based on records submitted to the state by the local public health districts through Idaho’s statewide disease tracking system. The state does not count cases of disease the local public health districts have not yet determined to be confirmed though investigations and submitted to the state. This is standard practice for all communicable diseases and done, in part, to ensure we count cases only among Idaho residents. The state of residence may not be immediately clear, for example, if someone who is a resident of another state becomes sick in Idaho and gets tested in Idaho.
COVID-19 in Idaho
*Case count and laboratory testing data updated at 5:00 p.m. MT, 3/23/2020. Demographic data to be updated every Friday at 5:00 p.m. MT. State-level case count data will be updated at 5 p.m. MT daily, based on surveillance system records provided by the health districts. Public health district data will be updated on their agency website at their discretion.
| Public Health District | County | Cases | Deaths |
| Panhandle Health District | Kootenai | 3 | 0 |
| Southwest District Health | Canyon | 4 | 0 |
| Central District Health | Ada Valley | 15 1 | 0 0 |
| South Central Public Health District | Blaine Twin Falls | 35 1 | 0 0 |
| Eastern Idaho Public Health | Madison Teton | 2 2 | 0 0 |
| South Eastern Idaho Public Health | Bingham | 1 | 0 |
COVID-19 Testing in Idaho
| Number of people tested through the Idaho Bureau of Laboratories* | 997 |
| Number of people tested through commercial laboratories** | 540 |
*Includes 4 Oregon residents and 1 Montana resident tested in Idaho.
**Some people may receive multiple tests.
Idahoans with COVID-19 by Age Group
| <18 years | 0 |
| 19 to 49 years | 16 |
| ≥50 years | 15 |
Data updated at 5:00 p.m. MT, 3/20/2020. Next update at 5:00 p.m. MT 3/27/2020.
Idahoans with COVID-19 by Sex
| Female | 20 |
| Male | 11 |
| Unknown | 0 |
Data updated at 5:00 p.m. MT, 3/20/2020. Next update at 5:00 p.m. MT 3/27/2020.
