COVID-19: Little rolls Idaho back to modified Stage 2; National Guard to help hospitals

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — Responding to Idaho’s worsening coronavirus crisis, Idaho Gov. Brad Little announced Friday that he is moving the state back to Stage 2 of its Idaho Rebounds reopening plan, with some modifications, but he resisted any stricter measures, such as a mask mandate.

The big impact of the move is on private and public gatherings, which will be limited to 10 people. Bars, nightclubs and some other businesses had to be closed in the original Stage 2, but that is not the case this time. They may remain open as long as they operate under coronavirus guidelines.

The gathering limits do not apply to religious or political events, according to the governor’s office.

With record numbers of cases this week and hospitalizations, Little announced Friday that he also will sign an executive order to mobilize members of the Idaho National Guard to help medical facilities deal with the virus. Hospitals have been struggling with staffing because health professionals are getting sick and can’t work, and hospital capacity also is a concern, Little said.

“This is the biggest challenge facing health care right now — the availability of trained healthy nurses and doctors to care for all patients, not just COVID-19 patients. This impacts all of us, whether we have COVID-19 or not,” Little said.

On Oct. 26, Little announced that Idaho would move backward into Stage 3 of the state’s Idaho Rebounds reopening plan. That move limited indoor gatherings to no more than 50 people as well as outdoor gatherings to 25% capacity. It was made after several months of Idaho remaining in Stage 4 of the plan, as the state repeatedly failed to meet the metric goals needed to move forward.

The governor once more emphasized the need for personal responsibility and refrained from enacting a statewide mask mandate.

“Half of Idaho’s population is under a local ordinance requiring masks, but we are seeing noncompliance with those local orders. Or, people are wearing their masks in public but then take them off in social settings where the virus is more likely to spread,” Little said. “Law enforcement can cite individuals for violating local ordinances, but law enforcement cannot be everywhere all the time. That is why I maintain this comes down to personal responsibility. Please, wear a mask whenever you’re around another person who is not in your household so we can protect lives, preserve health care access for all of us, and continue our economic rebound.”

COVID-19 Idaho

Since the backward move on Oct. 26, Idaho’s coronavirus problems have only worsened.

Throughout this week Idaho broke its records for the most confirmed cases and overall cases in a single day, adding 1,250 confirmed cases and 1,618 total cases on Wednesday. Idaho’s positive testing rate hit an all-time high on Thursday, as 16.9% of tests were positive for the coronavirus.

Hospitalizations have grown to record levels, with 361 people in Idaho hospitalized because of COVID-19 as of Monday. The state had just 118 open ICU beds available for those in critical need as of Thursday.

On Thursday, St. Luke’s Health System announced that it would temporarily stop scheduling certain elective surgeries and procedures in response to the increasing coronavirus numbers. Elective surgeries that would require an overnight hospital stay were put on pause, as long as the surgery can be delayed 90 days or more.

Little referenced St. Luke’s move during his press conference to emphasize the toll the virus is taking.

The hospital system said a pause on pediatric admissions at St. Luke’s Magic Valley would also continue, with patients sent to other hospitals if they need admitted.

Saint Alphonsus Health System also announced that it had begun to “selectively limit surgical procedures that may be delayed without creating a risk to patients,” but only at its Idaho hospitals, according to spokesperson Mark Snider.