Ada County to move back to Stage 3 in Idaho’s reopening process after coronavirus spike

The Board of Health for Central District Health, which covers Ada, Boise, Elmore and Valley counties, met Saturday and decided it needed to increase restrictions, Duke said. The order will be released later Monday, he said.

Epperly said emergency room visits are increasing and Primary Health has reported positivity rates on COVID-19 tests of 15% to 22% in the past 10 days — up from about 5%.

“That puts us really in a positivity rate that approaches that of Blaine County, which you all know was the epicenter and the highest county (for infections per capita) in the entire United States at one point in the outbreak,” Epperly said. “That’s why this is a problem. And in fact, I just want to amplify for just a minute, this is more than just a bars and nightclubs issue. This is a community-wide active spread. And that’s why these steps are being taken.”

‘A DIRECT ATTACK ON THE BARS’

Downtown Boise bar owners met with CDH last week and agreed to a series of safety protocols, including encouraging masks, to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus. They issued a press release Monday expressing their displeasure with the CDH decision.

“This is a direct attack on the bars,” Jason Kovac, who owns Silly Birch, Whiskey Bar and Tom Grainey’s, said in the press release. “We followed all the protocols and guidance CDH set. We asked patrons to wear masks, some required them, we had hand sanitizer and our bars were so empty that all social distancing requirements were exceeded. Now, without any warning, we’re being told we have to shut down again. We have been blindsided.”

Rocci Johnson, co-owner of Humpin’ Hannah’s, said in the release that she thought bar owners and CDH were “on the same page” after the meeting.

“We could continue to follow their recommendations and go above and beyond to keep our establishments safe and healthy,” she said. “We believe we acted in good faith, but that is certainly not being reciprocated when we have received no communication with anyone at CDH that this was going to happen.”

Ted Challenger, owner of StrangeLove, Amsterdam Lounge and Dirty Little Roddy’s, said that after hearing the announcement was coming, he decided to close his bars until Sept. 1.

“I’m sick of it,” he said. “We kept gearing up, hiring people, then we’re closing down, then we’re doing half (capacity). … We can’t get going, and it’s just hurt us more financially.”

Bar owners are upset, Challenger said, partly because they believe rising coronavirus numbers shouldn’t surprise anyone.

“We feel that this is actually natural; that when you open the bars, that the numbers are going to go up,” he said. “ I had a crew of eight (employees) get it. They’re done with quarantine, they’re back to work. They were sick for a day.

“I kind of feel that we need to let it run its course in this valley while protecting the people that are old or that have secondhand conditions for which this is deadly. You quarantine, it just shows up as soon as you open anything. Did they really think this wasn’t going to happen?”

Challenger thinks the state should provide financial aid to bar owners, he said.

“I’m shocked that our governor has not acted to fund bars to stay closed when there’s only 800 in the state,” Challenger said, “but he’d rather pay employees to go back to work. We need funding. Our concert industry, our sports event industry — we need funding.

“You’re asking us to stay shut down to help the public get through this pandemic. Yet there’s no funding to help us save our industry and all the jobs. It seems like a slap in the face to see people get paid ($1,500) to go back to work, and you’re asking us to stay closed half a year.”

Central District Health said bar patrons sparked the Ada County outbreak — but through no fault of the businesses.

“The cause of the uptick in our cases was for sure related to individuals who were infectious who were in the downtown Boise area and socializing with large crowds,” Duke said.

BOISE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK BEGAN IN EARLY JUNE

CDH says the outbreak started June 5-6 in the downtown Boise social scene with infectious people spreading the virus but has expanded into the community at large.

With symptoms developing over two to 14 days, Epperly said, the severity of the outbreak might not be known for a couple weeks. Cases have risen in the homeless population, too, he said.

“What we’re facing already with data that’s already a couple weeks old is really a major outbreak — let alone what it will be two weeks from now,” he said. “We need to put, right now, the emergency rooms and hospitals on alert for increased caseloads that will come through the emergency room, into our hospitals and potentially into our ICUs.

“… The problem with COVID-19, because it’s so infectious, is that you can get behind the eight ball on this really fast, and what the data is saying right now at this point is we’re behind the eight ball.”

Duke said he’s noticed residents taking fewer precautions in recent weeks, particularly with wearing face coverings.

Epperly encouraged community members to take the virus more seriously.

“The people in our community need to be part of the solution,” he said. “We need to take this seriously. It’s a serious problem, and we need to double down on our efforts on infection control, on social distancing, on good hand washing and on paying attention to this. If we don’t, then not only are we putting people at risk and lives at risk, but we also need to do this to protect our businesses and to protect people’s jobs in our communities.”

The keys, CDH leaders said, are the same ones public health officials have emphasized throughout the pandemic: social distancing (at least 6 feet of space between you and people outside your household), good and frequent hand washing and wearing masks inside public spaces and during close contacts.

“The greatest predictor of how we’re going to do moving forward is public compliance,” Epperly said. “… It’s the only tool we have to bring this under some measure of control.”