With school near, governor pushes for vaccines

Gov. Brad Little continued Thursday to call on residents to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.

“Idaho students are headed back to their classrooms starting next week. As I’ve stated from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, our students need to be able to learn in their classrooms with their teachers and peers. Our main defense in ensuring the new school year is entirely in-person — free from outbreaks and quarantines — is the COVID-19 vaccine,” Little said during a press conference at Nampa High School.

Little said nearly 99 percent of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths since Jan. 1 were people not vaccinated.

He also said that since May 15, there have been 10 times as many COVID-19 cases among unvaccinated people compared to vaccinated people.

Panhandle Health District reported 123 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, 95 of those in Kootenai County, where 43% of those 12 and older have received at least one shot of the vaccine. Statewide, 38% of Idaho's population 12 and older is fully vaccinated.

PHD's positivity rate for the virus rose to 15.3% for the week ending Aug. 7, its highest in about seven months. Kootenai County's rose to 16%, up from 4% about one month ago.

"Epidemiologists with the state of Idaho say that with low vaccination rates and the highly contagious Delta variant circulating in Idaho communities — which is twice as contagious as the original strain — projections indicate case counts could continue to increase through the fall and exceed last year’s peak for daily case counts in as soon as two months," a press release said.

Little said he understands there are many who simply will not receive the vaccine under any circumstances, but there are also a lot of others who are on the fence.

"To those friends and neighbors of ours waiting to receive the vaccine, the time to get the vaccine is now, when our students are going back to school," he said.

The press release said 197 million Americans have received the vaccine.

"The risk of serious side effects is extremely low," the release said.

Little said he is directing $30 million toward expanded COVID-19 testing in Idaho K-12 schools.