Idaho remains in red zone with highest test positivity rate in the country
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - The latest White House Coronavirus Task Force report obtained by ABC News shows Idaho continues to be in the red zone for test positivity, indicating a rate at or above 10.1%, with the highest rate in the country for the second week in a row.
Idaho is also in the red zone for cases, indicating 101 or more new cases per 100,000 population, with the 14th highest rate in the country.
The Gem State has seen an increase in new cases and a decrease in test positivity.
Ada County, Canyon County Kootenai County had the highest number of new cases over the last 3 weeks. These counties represent 46.5% of new cases in Idaho.
Test positivity is still >20% in 29 counties; cases rates were >300 per 100,000 population per week in 35 counties and, compared to the week prior, case rates from this past week increased in 28 counties, suggesting that previous dip was an issue of data reporting and not a sign of decreased transmission.
89% of all counties in Idaho have moderate or high levels of community transmission (yellow, orange, or red zones), with 82% having high levels of community transmission (red zone).
During the week of Nov 23 - Nov 29, 15% of nursing homes had at least one new resident COVID-19 case, 28% had at least one new staff COVID-19 case, and 7% had at least one new resident COVID-19 death.
Idaho had 552 new cases per 100,000 population, compared to a national average of 385 per 100,000.
Current staff deployed from the federal government as assets to support the state response are: 9 to support operations activities from FEMA and 1 to support epidemiology activities from CDC.
Between Nov 28 - Dec 4, on average, 63 patients with confirmed COVID-19 and 9 patients with suspected COVID-19 were reported as newly admitted each day to hospitals in Idaho. This is an increase of 9% in total COVID-19 hospital admissions.
