A different take on hospital's virus handling

Mr. E.F. Frazier, thank you for your insights regarding the ineptness of our local hospital to successfully deal with the current surge in COVID-19 related illnesses.

Upon reading your LTE (Wed. Oct. 20), however, I was left a bit puzzled. Dictionary.com says that endemic is an adjective that means natural to, native to, confined to, or widespread within a place or population of people. Endemic is most commonly used to describe a disease that is prevalent in or restricted to a particular location, region, or population.

For example, malaria is said to be endemic to tropical regions or kangaroos are endemic to Australia. This doesn't seem to comply with your description of endemic.

I'm not sure what Dr. Nemerson meant in his statement "...the situation has gone from pandemic to endemic." If he means that all COVID-19 infections are now centered in Boise or only here in the United States that would meet the definition of endemic. These are some excerpts from the CDA Press written by staffers that you may have missed.

On Aug. 20, hospital leaders decided to covert the largest conference room into a COVID patient care center accommodating up to 22 patients due to the rapid increase in hospitalization due to COVID-19.

On Sept. 9, a team of 20 health care professionals from the Department of Defense arrived at Kootenai Health to help with COVID-19 patients. The hospital normally has 330 beds operating at 80% capacity which leaves 66 beds to accommodate overflow COVID patients.

On Oct. 6, Kootenai Health recorded 145 COVID-19 patients with 42 requiring critical care and 20 on ventilators. Since the beginning of the most recent surge in mid-August, 97% of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 at Kootenai Health were unvaccinated.

According to Johns Hopkins University, only 44.79% of Idahoans are vaccinated, one of the lowest rates in the country. (Only 43% are vaccinated in Kootenai County) Kootenai Health reports that it has not admitted any patients for adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccines.

Mr. Frazier, the virus "does what it does" because too many people refuse to take a stand against. It is not the fault of the hospital that so many people choose to play Russian roulette with COVID-19. If every person who is eligible for a vaccination suddenly went out and "got the shot," where would COVID go? Probably away! Not entirely, though it could result in an endemic.

Dave Kuntz is a Coeur d'Alene resident.