COVID-19 keeps retreating in North Idaho

New cases of COVID-19 are reportedly rising across the nation due a subvariant known as BA.2, but they're going down in North Idaho.

Kootenai Health was down to two COVID-19 patients on Friday - from a high of 150 in October - and the Panhandle Health District reported just 50 new cases so far this month. Only two deaths in the PHD has been attributed to COVID-19 in April.

According to the Idaho Division of Public Health's COVID-19 dashboard, there were 44 hospitalizations state on Friday. That's the fewest in two years.

Positivity rates for the coronavirus also remained low in North Idaho.

Kootenai County was at 3.4% for the second straight week based on 293 PCR tests for the week ending April 9. PHD was at 2.5% based on 508 PCR tests, slightly up from 1.4% three weeks ago, while the state was at 1.9%, also up slightly from 1.5% three weeks ago.

Health officials have long said the goal was 5%.

As of Thursday, the seven-day rolling average for daily new cases nationwide rose to 39,521, up from 30,724 two weeks earlier, according to data from Johns Hopkins collected by The Associated Press.

Idaho's new case count remains low despite a vaccination rate far lower than the national average.

In Idaho, 54% of the population age 5 and older is fully vaccinated, while the national figure is 70%.