New COVID-19 case numbers continue to spike in Clearwater County, health district

by Nancy C. Butler

New COVID-19 case numbers are continuing to spike in Clearwater County and Public Health-Idaho North Central District, according to data posted Monday.

There were 27 new cases in Clearwater County and 159 in the district Monday. Besides the climbing numbers in Clearwater County, Nez Perce County had an additional 78 cases, Latah 21, Idaho 17 and Lewis 16. Over the week since Aug. 23, Clearwater County racked up 97 cases and the district, 587.

Clearwater County's cases were pretty well split between males with 46 and females 51. The cases were through all the age groups up to the 80s, but the age groups from 18-29 up to those in their 60s were all in double digits.

One of the data sets on the PH-INCD site shows cases by zip code. Open cases in Orofino's zip code, 83544, were at 132; Weippe, 83553, 45; Pierce, 83546, 18; Ahsahka, 83520, 8; and Lenore, 83541, 12. There were no open cases in the Elk River zip, 83827. Lenore was included because part of it is in Clearwater County.

"Cases are considered resolved 30 days after either the onset of symptoms or the report date. If the person dies, then it is listed as a death and neither a 'open' or 'recovered' case. This is not a perfect determination, which is why we don't like there to be a lot of relevance placed on the determination of 'open' or 'recovered'," according to Tara Macke, Public Health - Idaho North Central District.

Vaccinations of those 12 and over are up to 37.94 percent in the county and 44.70 in the district. Idaho County has the lowest percentage of vaccinations with 29.77 while Blaine County had the highest with 90.60 percent, according to Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

There has been a great deal of concern about hospital capacity to deal with COVID-19 cases in addition to the regular medical needs in the region. Idaho Capital Sun has been publishing figures on hospitals in the state. The latest article by Audrey Dutton is at: https://idahocapitalsun.com/2021/08/30/today-in-idaho-hospitals-and-covid-19-patients-er-visits-and-capacity/ and includes tables that show the statistics for local hospitals in relation to capacity, number of COVID-19 patients, ER visits and ICU COVID patients.