First confirmed case of COVID-19 in Nez Perce

North Central Idaho is the least populated health district in Idaho

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Idaho North Central Health confirmed the first case of COVID-19 in Nez Perce County.

The case is an individual under 60, no other information is known at this time. The sex of the individual was not released, to protect their identity, though most counties have released the sex of their confirmed cases.

North Central Health District is the last health district in Idaho to confirm a case of COVID-19.

Mike Larson, health district nurse, said while he is not sure of the exact reason North Central was last to confirm a case he said it might have something to do with how rural the district is.             

“The really easy answer to that, is we really don’t know,” Larson said. “I kind of like to think that it is because we’re a very rural district and I think that probably has a little bit more to do with it.”

Idaho has seven health districts across the state, with each district having anywhere from four to eight counties each. Idaho North Central is the most rural health district with an estimated population of 93,161. And Idaho’s largest health district being South Central District Health, with an estimated population of 199,069.

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Due to Idaho North Central being last to confirm a COVID-19, case questions have surfaced on whether this is because of a lack of testing. However, the number of tests done cannot be determined because health districts do not know the exact number of tests that are being administered through private companies. And Health districts typically get only an estimate of tests done at the state level.

If they were to give people the estimated number of tests being the number would rapidly change. As of Wednesday, 1,887 tests have been done in Idaho through commercial and state labs, according to Idaho’s COVID-19 page.

“There has been a lot of testing done on people in this district, in all of our counties,” Larson said.

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