Little extends Stage Four as flu season looms

Despite a slight-but-gradual decline in Idaho’s COVID-19 trends, Gov. Brad Little announced Thursday he's keeping the state in Stage Four of his Idaho Rebounds plan.

Statewide, our numbers, our metrics are looking pretty good,” Little said in a press conference. “In fact, even in many of the hot spots, we’re seeing encouraging trends. But that is not a reason to let our guard down.”

Little said he was encouraged by both the state’s rate of declining cases and a near-bottoming-out of coronavirus-related emergency department visits, but he expressed concern at COVID-related hospital admissions — both from emergency rooms and from private admissions. Furthermore, he voiced concern over what the data doesn’t show: the future.

“As we approach fall, the opportunity for community spread will increase,” Little predicted. “Dropping temperatures will drive people indoors, where people will be sharing physical space, and more transmissable moments can occur. This presents opportunities for spread and threatens our health care capacity, the very thing we’re trying to protect so that our economic rebound can continue, so our students can learn in our classrooms as they deserve to be.”

Little also noted the upcoming flu season that, when coupled with the pandemic, could overwhelm hospitals and clinics if health protocols were eased further. He urged all Idahoans to get a flu shot before the bug strikes.

Dr. Christine Hahn, the state epidemiologist who has been at the forefront of Little’s push to keep Idahoans informed during the pandemic, said she was encouraged by the COVID-19 numbers over the past two weeks.

“We’re looking pretty much like we were two weeks ago,” she said “… Our case rates are declining. They have been declining now for several weeks, and very encouragingly, the percent of … tests that are positive are declining.”

Despite the downward trend of positive test rates, she said it wasn’t enough to warrant relaxing health protocols.

“Now, we’re just over 8 percent positive,” she reported. “It’s not where we need to be. We’re not feeling secure and safe.”

The state’s number of emergency department visits for COVID-like symptoms has only reached 20 a total of 19 times since Little re-opened the state with his Idaho Rebounds plan. But the number of hospitalized patients suspected with or confirmed to have COVID-19 has steadfastly climbed since Fourth of July weekend. A total of 171 Idahoans with COVID-19 or COVID-like symptoms occupied an inpatient bed as of Aug. 31, dwarfing April 21’s 37 patients, the high-water mark during the pandemic’s first wave in the state.

Little also took a few minutes of the press conference to address the events of late August, when protests during the Idaho Legislature’s special session sparked arrests and, at times, grew physical. Many protested the civil liability legislation that essentially indemnifies cities, states, individuals, schools and businesses from inadvertently transmitting COVID-19. Other protesters called for an end to Little’s emergency declaration.

“I recognize the tension out there,” he said after thanking police officers for their service at the Idaho Capitol in Boise. “I not only understand the frustration, but I share it. It has been a great challenge to balance all the public’s expectations during this pandemic, but time and time again, we have stuck to the facts and the science in our response to the coronavirus in Idaho.”

But he emphasized the nearly 500,000 Idahoans with underlying conditions as one of the drivers behind his focus, saying the impatience of some residents shouldn’t outweigh the risks to those at the greatest risk, all while citing a conversation he had Tuesday with a Rupert woman during a town hall conference call.

“She said … ’I’m over 70 with diabetes,’” he said, ‘and I’m getting tired of people acting like my life doesn’t matter.’ The number of Idahoans doing the right thing far exceeds the people of Idaho who are skeptical of the pandemic.”