Idaho remains in red zone with 2nd 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 is in the red zone for test positivity, indicating a rate at or above 10.1%, with the second-highest rate in the country.

Idaho is also in the red zone for cases, indicating 101 or more new cases per 100,000 population, with the seventh highest rate in the country.

The Gem State has seen an increase in new cases and a decrease in test positivity. Test positivity is still increasing in 13 counties and is over 20% in 18 counties; cases rates continued to increase in 26 counties.

Ada County, Canyon County and Kootenai County have had the highest number of new cases over the last 3 weeks. These counties represent 51.1% of new cases in Idaho.

91% of all counties in Idaho have moderate or high levels of community transmission (yellow, orange, or red zones), with 77% having high levels of community transmission (red zone).

During the week of Nov 30 - Dec 6, 34% of nursing homes had at least one new resident COVID-19 case, 58% had at least one new staff COVID-19 case, and 11% had at least one new resident COVID-19 death. New cases were noted in staff and residents in dozens of facilities, with wider outbreaks (at least 5 new cases among residents/staff) in nearly 10 facilities.

Idaho had 629 new cases per 100,000 population, compared to a national average of 451 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 2 to support epidemiology activities from CDC.

The federal government has supported surge testing across Idaho.

Between Dec 5 - Dec 11, on average, 60 patients with confirmed COVID-19 and 7 patients with suspected COVID-19 were reported as newly admitted each day to hospitals in Idaho. This is a decrease of 8% in total new COVID-19 hospital admissions.

You can view the full report HERE.