Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls. | EastIdahoNews.com file photo
IDAHO FALLS – COVID-19 numbers may be dropping across the state – but not in eastern Idaho.
In fact, Bonneville County and Madison County are experiencing one of the biggest outbreaks across the country, according to the New York Times.
Idaho Falls and Rexburg have the highest number of new daily cases per 100,000 people in the country, according to the national newspaper. The article showed the top 20 cities in the United States, with a population of over 50,000 people, and the number of cases they have had in the past two weeks. Rexburg came in third on the list, with 38.9 new daily cases per 100,000 people, and Idaho Falls topped the list with 55.9.
From The New York Times
“That is painful and unnecessary having that level of disease and loss of life at this very advanced stage of the pandemic. “
Eastern Idaho Public Health decided at a board meeting on March 4 that it would no longer issue public health orders, including mask warrants, to the counties they oversee. But they will still report case and hospital information to counties and classify them at different levels of risk.
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Since their vote, Bonneville and Madison counties – where Idaho Falls and Rexburg are located – have been placed at the high risk, or orange, level in the EIPH COVID-19 Regional Response Plan. Being placed at the moderate, or yellow, level of risk, it would normally come with a mask mandate for the entire county until the recent Health Council vote. Bonneville County has a population of almost 120,000 people and Madison County has almost 40,000 .
“Unfortunately, while the number of COVID-19 cases continues to drop across the state, Bonneville County is experiencing the fastest increase in positive cases this year,” said EIPH chairman Bryon Reed in a statement Tuesday. market. “It is painful and unnecessary to have this level of illness and loss of life at this very advanced stage of the pandemic.”
Reed continues to defend personal responsibility when it comes to reducing the number of cases.
“We, as a community, know what must be done to prevent this rapid spread of the disease, and that should not require a health order,” he continued. “By following East Idaho’s Public Health guidelines, we can prevent this sudden increase in cases. This will protect lives, our hospital system and our local economy. “
Bonneville County EIPH incident report
Madison County EIPH incident report
EIPH said that Wednesday, March 17, it had 94 new cases in Bonneville County, with an active rate of 47.40 cases per 10,000 people. Madison Country had 27 new cases with an active rate of 35.30 cases per 10,000. Two weeks ago, on March 3 – the day before the Health Council vote to suspend mandates – Bonneville County had 60 new cases and an active rate of 24.10 cases per 10,000. Madison had 17 new cases with an active rate of 21.30 cases per 10,000, according to EIPH data.
As of Wednesday, there were 564 active cases in Bonneville County with 39 hospitalized residents and 141 active cases in Madison County with six hospitalized residents.
Since mid-March 2020, EIPH has said that 226 people in the district have died from COVID-19 – and half a dozen of those deaths have occurred in the past two weeks. Most were in Bonneville County.
According to a Idaho State Profile Report by the White House Coronavirus Task Force sent on March 12, new cases have been on the rise in the eastern Idaho area in the past month.
Health officials say deaths are not the biggest concern with COVID-19. The vast majority of people who contract the virus recover at home without problems. But enough people are seriously ill, and crowded hospitals are a real possibility – even now, when we are close to what appears to be the end of the pandemic.
Dr. Kenneth Krell, director of the ICU at the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, told EastIdahoNews.com that his normal ICU capacity is 29 individuals. On Wednesday, he had 30 beds occupied after using the overflow options. Ten to 12 of these patients are in the ICU due to COVID-19. Some patients waited in the emergency room until the opening of a bed in the ICU.
“We were able to take care of everyone without having to divert patients, which we tried very hard not to do,” he said. “Three weeks ago, we weren’t struggling to get a patient out of the unit to get another one. We were not as overwhelmed as we are now. ”
Natalie Podgorski, a spokeswoman for Idaho Falls Community Hospital, said they have 18 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and six of them in their ICU. They still have the capacity to accept more patients, but their beds have been filling up as cases in the municipality continue to increase.
“The most important thing that the public can do is don’t let your tired COVID get the best of your common sense. “
Although there are several explanations for the increase in cases and case rates. Experts like Krell said that failure to comply with safety recommendations, such as wearing masks or adequate social distance, significantly increases the problem.
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“The most important thing the public can do is not to let COVID’s fatigue get the best of its common sense and what we need to do to overcome this next immediate period,” said Krell. “We have the potential for at least some return to normal in the summer, but we don’t want patients to die unnecessarily in the meantime.”
Although EIPH does not mandate over their counties, county officials, city officials or private companies can still enforce their own mandates if they deem it appropriate.
In Madison County, Brigham Young University-Idaho announced on Wednesday that despite the suspension of EIPH’s mandate, the school – a private organization – will continue to apply COVID-19 security protocols, including on-campus masks and remoteness. in classrooms.
Mandates or not, EIPH emphasizes the importance of individuals choosing to do what they can to help the community reach a safer future.
“Please, in your own lives, companies and schools, take the necessary actions to prevent this rapid spread of the virus in our community,” said Reed.
Get the latest COVID-19 numbers here.