Community transmission identified in Benewah, Bonner counties

The Panhandle Health District has identified community transmission in Benewah and Bonner counties, according to a PHD press release on Thursday.

In the Panhandle area, community transmission, also referred to as community spread, has also been identified in Kootenai County.

“Community spread means at least one person has been infected with the virus and through contact tracing we are unable to determine how or where they became infected,” the release said. “The individual(s) did not travel and had no identified contact with another person with COVID-19.”

PHD urges all residents to assume the virus could be anywhere in the community and surrounding counties.

PHD have a total of 97 cases of COVID-19 in the Panhandle area as of Thursday. That is an increase of 18 cases since last week. Kootenai County has 78 cases, Benewah county has seven cases, and Bonner county has five cases.

Seven cases are being researched to determine what county they primarily reside in.

“Of the total cases, we are no longer monitoring 69 cases, so we have a total of 28 active cases currently,” the release said.

The CDA Tribe has announced that there are 22 cases associated with the reservation, PHD said.