State's COVID positivity rate lowest in nearly 5 months

| February 6, 2021 1:06 AM

The coronavirus positivity percentage for the Panhandle Health District has reached its lowest point in nearly four months.

PHD’s positivity rate fell to 9.1% based on 4,590 PCR tests for the week ending Jan. 30. The last time it was lower was Oct. 10, when it reached 7.3%. It reached its highest point, 22.9%, just over a month ago, for the week ending Jan. 2

The state's COVID-19 positivity rate fell to 7% based on 28,923 tests, which is its lowest in nearly five months. The last time it was lower was Sept. 12 when it was 6.7%. It reached its highest of 19% on Dec. 5.

The PHD reported 50 new cases on Friday, bringing its total to 21,032. The 18-29 age group has the most coronavirus cases in the PHD at 3,849.

A month ago, PHD reported 263 cases in a single day.

It also reported three COVID-related deaths, bring the district’s total to 247. Of those, 217 were people ages 70 and older.

Kootenai County had 34 new coronavirus cases on Friday. In comparison, it reported 227 cases on Jan. 5.

Kootenai Health reported it had 31 COVID-19 patients on Friday, the fewest in 3 1/2 months. The last time it was lower was Oct. 22, when it had 27 coronavirus patients.