Idaho records show 289 COVID-19 cases, 52 deaths in 25 nursing homes and care facilities

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare on Friday released a list of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities with coronavirus cases — including 52 deaths — reported among residents or staff.

The department said it plans to begin publishing the data on the state coronavirus website. The release came one week after the Idaho Statesman warned that it would file a lawsuit if the department failed to provide the records. The department had denied a Statesman request filed in May under Idaho’s open records law for the records.

Idahoans for Openness in Government also sent a letter to Gov. Brad Little and health district officials urging them to release the information.

The records released Friday show 289 coronavirus infections at 25 care facilities in Idaho. The facilities include nursing homes, assisted living facilities and group homes — of which there are a total of about 400 operating in the state.

Of those, 135 cases of COVID-19 and 24 deaths are associated with care facilities in the Magic Valley.

The Canyons in Twin Falls, Bridgeview Estates in Twin Falls and Desert View Care center in Buhl each have dozens of cases. The state says they have ongoing outbreaks that haven’t yet been resolved.

The tally also includes current and past outbreaks at nursing homes and group homes that had already been reported, including Life Care Center of Lewiston and Avamere Transitional Care and Rehabilitation in Boise.

However, data released Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, do not match the state’s records, suggesting there may be more cases than what has been reported to and by the state.

The CMS records are based on self-reported data from nursing homes. The state records are based on data from Idaho’s local public health districts, which track each case of COVID-19 reported in their counties.

Nursing homes are required now to tell the federal government how many cases of COVID-19 they have among staff and patients, how many people have died and other information, such as whether the facility is understaffed or doesn’t have enough masks or hand sanitizer.

Several nursing homes that had COVID-19 cases in the CMS data, as of last week, are not included in the state’s list.

In addition, the CMS records are just a partial list of the long-term care facilities in Idaho. Any coronavirus outbreaks that occur in Idaho’s group homes or assisted living facilities would not show up in the CMS records, only in the state records.

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