Case numbers continue to rise while Gritman Medical Center takes in more COVID-19 patients and Public Health – Idaho North Central District’s vaccination rate remains below the state average.
The Argonaut will continue with weekly updates on COVID-19 case numbers, vaccinations and more on both the district and state level.
Gritman Medical Center
Information comes from Gritman’s weekly press releases. Updated Oct. 6 at 11:59 p.m.
This past week, Gritman’s patient care unit has reached capacity with the hospital’s highest ever number of COVID-19 positive patients being admitted for inpatient care.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 25 COVID-19 related deaths have occurred in Latah County. 14 of these deaths have occured since the beginning of June.
Gritman continues to function at contingent standards of care, but could enact crisis standards if the situation were to change.
“We are urgently asking everyone who can be vaccinated to do so as soon as possible,” the press release stated.
Public Health – Idaho North Central District
Data used is from Public Health District 2. The local district consists of Latah, Clearwater, Idaho, Lewis and Nez Perce counties. Updated Oct. 8 at 3 p.m.
Active cases: 1,888
New cases (Oct. 8): 68
Cases this week (Oct. 2-8): 401
Fully vaccinated: 42,751 (44.2%)
Deaths: 187
Statewide
Data used is from Idaho’s COVID-19 page. Updated Oct. 8 at 4:45 p.m.
New cases (Oct. 8): 1,682
Cases this week (Oct. 2-8): 8,225
Fully vaccinated: 798,684 (52.9%)
Deaths: 3,117
Hospitalized patients: 709 (176 in ICU)
Available ICU beds (Oct. 8): 20
Additional updates
Following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, Public Health has begun making booster shots available. The Pfizer-BioNTech booster shots are recommended for specified groups who received their second dose at least six months ago.
Groups on University of Idaho’s campus have been concerned with vaccination rates in recent weeks. UI’s Faculty Senate saw a push for easier accessibility to vaccines and ASUI senators passed a resolution encouraging students to get vaccinated.
Haadiya Tariq can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @haadiyatariq