COVID-19 cases in Clearwater County, North Central Health District continue upward

by Nancy C. Butler

COVID-19 case numbers continue to climb in Clearwater County and Public Health-Idaho North Central District, according to statistics released by PH-INCD on their website: https://www.idahopublichealth.com/.

From Sept. 1 through Sept. 15, there were 157 cases reported in Clearwater County. The largest number was 32 on Tuesday, Sept. 7, which included numbers over the three day weekend.

Between Sept. 1 and Sept. 15, there were 157 new cases. Of those, 66 are female and 91 male. There have been 5 deaths of Clearwater County residents accounted for on the PH-INCD website since Sept. 1. Some of those cases were reported prior to Sept. 1. One of those deaths was a woman in her 60s. The four men were 2 in their 90s, 1 in their 50s and 1 in their 30s.

While there were cases in all the age groups, those with the highest numbers were from 18-29 year old group to those in their 70s. Here is a breakdown of the stats by age group, from Sept. 1-15 according to PH-INCD:

• 0-4: 5
• 5-12: 12
• 13-17: 12
• 18-29: 16
• 30s: 30
• 40s: 15
• 50s: 19
• 60s: 22
• 70: 20
• 80s: 3
• 90s: 3

In the health district from Sept. 1 to Sept. 15 there were 1,075 new cases with the majority of those from Nez Perce and Latah counties. Of those, 547 were female and 528 male. The age groups with the highest number of cases were similar to those in Clearwater County, from 18-29 through their 70s, though there were cases all the way from the 0-4 to 90s age groups.

Vaccinations have increased in Clearwater County to 40.13% .and in the district 46.16% for those over 12 years old, according to the statistics on the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare website: https://coronavirus.idaho.gov.

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. That includes moving into Crisis Standards of Care in North and North Central Idaho. Idaho Capital Sun has been publishing figures on hospitals in the state. The latest article by Audrey Dutton is at: https://idahocapitalsun.com/2021/09/15/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.