Idaho Falls Ski Club members in isolation after trip to Italy

More than 20 members of the Idaho Falls Ski Club are in self-quarantine after returning from a trip to northern Italy over the weekend.

Alpine trip director Alex Kepas said that as far as she had heard, all the returning members of the Ski Club were obeying the 14-day period of self-isolation recommended by the Centers for Disease Control for travelers from Italy and other countries with widespread cases of COVID-19, also known as coronavirus.

The club members had been in Venice and Cortina for a ski trip that was scheduled from Feb. 28 until March 8. Some members had dropped out before leaving or returned early due to health concerns, but around 22 completed the week in Italy.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Idaho had no reported cases of COVID-19 and had tested 51 people.

Italy was placed under a nationwide lockdown on Monday to control the spread of the virus, which has killed around 460 people and infected at least 9,000. The northern state of Veneto, which holds both Venice and Cortina, has been one of the most-impacted regions and was put under quarantine beginning Sunday.

Bloomberg News reports that while the Italian ski slopes typically remain open "into April or even May, the spread of the coronavirus across northern Italy has prompted the country’s best known and biggest resorts to shut their lifts for the rest of the season."