State, local COVID positivity rates decline

The coronavirus positivity rates for Idaho, the Panhandle Health District and Kootenai County have declined to their lowest rate in months.

According to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s COVID-19 Dashboard, the state’s positivity rate was 8.3% based on 29,286 PCR tests for the week ending Jan. 23. That’s the lowest since it was 7.5% for the week ending Sept. 19. The state's positivity rate was at its highest, 19.1%, for the week ending Nov. 21 and has since been coming down.

The PHD’s positivity rate was 11.9% based on 4,294 PCR tests for the week ending Jan. 23. That’s the lowest since it was 7.5% for the week ending Oct. 10. The PHD’s positivity rate reached its highest, 22.9%, for the week ending Jan. 2.

Kootenai County’s coronavirus positivity rate was 13.4% based on 2,710 PCR tests for the week ending Jan. 23. That’s the lowest since it was 13.1% for the week ending Oct. 17. It reached a high of 27.1% for the week ending Jan. 22.

Kootenai Health reported it had 38 coronavirus patients, 14 in critical care, on Friday. A little over a month ago, Dec. 23, it had 91 coronavirus patients and 28 in critical care.

PHD reported that Kootenai County had 15,700 total cases, with 11,956 closed cases, leaving 3,744 active cases, which is 2.3% of its population. The county has had 167 deaths attributed to the virus, which is .10% of its population.

The PHD on Friday reported a total of 241 COVID-related deaths, with 212 of those people age 70 or older. One was in the 30-39 age group and five in the 50-59 age group.

The number of new coronavirus cases county- and districtwide fell about 50% from early January to late January.

The week between Jan. 1 and Jan. 8 saw 1,157 new COVID-19 cases in Kootenai County. For the week between Jan. 22 and Jan. 29, there were 484 new cases.

In the PHD, there were 1,456 new coronavirus cases in the week of Jan. 1 to Jan. 8. For the week of Jan. 22 to Jan. 29, there were 728 new cases.