Shoshone County moves to red category

Shoshone County is now in the red risk category for the coronavirus, meaning it has substantial community spread.

Each Thursday, a team of Panhandle Health District staff and a representative from Kootenai Health meet to determine the county risk categories for the district in terms of community transmission.

Last week, Kootenai and Boundary counties were moved to the red category. Shoshone has joined them. On Wednesday it had 277 COVID-19 cases, Kootenai had 4,206 and Boundary had 162.

Bonner, with 503 cases, and Benewah, with 176 cases, are in the orange category, which is moderate risk.

The county risk categories are determined using positivity rate, hospitalizations and seven-day incidence rate.

As of today, Kootenai Health has 41 inpatients with COVID-19, with 13 of those in critical care and is operating near capacity.

Overall, PHD is in the red risk category, meaning it has substantial community spread.