Doctor: Most KH coronavirus patients not fully vaccinated

COEUR d’ALENE — Gov. Brad Little is calling on Idaho residents to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.

“Simply put, we need more Idahoans to choose to receive the vaccine if our kids have a chance at a normal school year,” he said Tuesday during a Department of Health and Welfare media briefing about COVID-19.

Little pointed out that new cases had been declining, but recently began increasing again due to the delta variant. The state had 680 new cases on Tuesday, while the Panhandle Health District had 68.

He said it was important to protect children and their ability to learn without interruption, and the way to do that was by more Idahoans getting vaccinated.

Little said the COVID-19 vaccine is “safe and effective.” He said there are some side effects, “but they’re usually very minimal.”

Officials locally and across the country are ramping up efforts to convince those who have been hesitant or refused to get vaccinated to do so.

“All along, our goal has been to protect lives and critical health care capacity,” he said.

Kootenai Health had 37 coronavirus patients on Tuesday, 20 requiring critical care.

Kootenai Health Chief of Staff Robert Scoggins and medical director of critical care said the majority of patients in the ICU unit with COVID-19 “have not been fully vaccinated.

“If more people were vaccinated we wouldn’t be in this position that we’re in right now,” he said during a phone interview with The Press.

He said those who are vaccinated are less likely to spread the virus and less likely to be hospitalized.

“It’s very clear to those of us that take care of COVID patients this really is a lack of vaccination,” Scoggins said.

Later, in a post on the Kootenai Health Facebook page, Scoggins wrote this post: “The reality is that this is now a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”

He added that the majority of patients in the ICU “fighting for breath, regret their decision to skip the vaccine. I have found that many want to be a part of the solution after they are discharged.”

DHW Director Dave Jeppesen said the delta variant is the dominant version of the virus infecting Idahoans. Idaho has more than 200,000 coronavirus cases.

He said health officials are worried about what will happen when cold weather settles in come fall, kids return to school and people stay indoors.

“Which leaves us concerned,” he said.

Jeppesen said the vaccine is “widely available” and he pointed out that of Idaho’s population of those 12 and older, 757,827, or 50.2%, have received at least one dose of a vaccine. In comparison, nationwide, 70% of adults 18 and older now have received at least one shot.

The vaccine is the way to end the pandemic, Jeppesen said.

“We know the vaccines are safe and very effective,” he added.

Dr. Christopher Ball, chief of the Idaho Bureau of Laboratories, said the state has seen a “very big switch in a very short period of time” as the delta variant has spread.

“We can certainly say the delta variant is widely circulating in Idaho right now,” she said.

Dr. Kathryn Turner, deputy state epidemiologist, said the delta variant spreads faster and more easily than previous versions of the virus. But she said the good news is that current authorized vaccines offer protection against it.

Turner said the 0-11 age group is Idaho’s most vulnerable population “because there is no vaccination for them.

Turner said the number of cases of children up to 4 years old has increased 200% in the past two weeks, and infections are doubling in kids ages 5 to 12. New coronavirus cases of teens have increased “substantially," she said.

“It does worry me," Turner said.

Scoggins said KH has been busy and will continue to have a COVID-19 unit.

“COVID-19 is not going away,” he said.

He said Kootenai Health is seeing younger patients — in their 30s, 40s and 50s — with the coronavirus than before when they were nearly all 60 or older.

He said the delta variant can more easily infect younger people.

Scoggins said while the current vaccines are still effective, Pfizer and Moderna are working on booster shots for the delta variant.

When asked if officials shouldn’t be promoting diet and exercise to improve health and strengthen immune systems, rather than calling on people to wear masks and take vaccines, Scoggins said that Koootenai Health was seeing an increase in healthy, younger people with the virus.

The coronavirus “does not seem to care if you’re young and healthy," he said.

“I think being healthy is great, but being vaccinated and having some immunity to stop the virus is much better,” he said.