This article was originally published by Rachel Roberts in the Idaho Statesman.
Idaho’s long-term care facilities have experienced a dramatic decrease in new cases of COVID-19 over the past few months.
With the vaccine rollout in full swing, new cases among long-term care residents and staff have dropped more than 90% since their peak in early December, according to data from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
For the week of March 21-27, Health and Welfare reported 56 new coronavirus cases in Idaho care facilities statewide. The largest weekly increase occurred Nov. 29-Dec. 5, when 651 were reported.
As of Friday, there were 3,386 active cases between 72 facilities, which is down from 3,594 active cases at 83 facilities last week. There are now 244 facilities with resolved outbreaks.
Long-term care residents make up about 40% of Idaho’s death toll from the pandemic. To date, 778 residents have died from COVID-19 in Idaho care facilities out of 1,954 coronavirus-related deaths overall.
Nursing homes are not required to publicly disclose their vaccination rates for COVID-19, but Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo is among a group of lawmakers urging the Biden administration to require disclosure of coronavirus vaccination rates for residents and staff, according to a recent report from The Associated Press.
“The continued absence of publicly available COVID-19 vaccination information at the facility level leaves residents, workers, and their families in the dark, makes it impossible to fully evaluate the effect of these vaccines, and hinders efforts to ensure equitable vaccine access for communities of color,” Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Crapo, R-Idaho, wrote in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
Below is a list of long-term care facilities by city that have active cases of the coronavirus among residents and/or staff. For an outbreak to be considered “resolved,” more than 28 days must pass (two incubation periods) without any additional cases associated with the facility.
American Falls: Power County Nursing Home, Edgewood Spring Creek American Falls; Boise: Edgewood Spring Creek-Overland, Garden Plaza of Valley View-Valley View Nursing & Rehab, Garden Plaza of Valley View-The Bridge at Valley View, Arbor Village at Hillcrest, MorningStar Senior Living of Boise, Edgewood Spring Creek Memory Care-Five Mile, Edgewood Plantation Place, Ashley Manor-Cloverdale, Grace Assisted Living at Englefield Green, Ashley Manor-Cory Lane (formerly AarenBrooke Place), Life Care of Treasure Valley, Avamere Transitional Care, Riverview Rehabilitation, Park Place Assisted Living of Boise, Ashley Manor-Harmony, Grace Memory Care, MorningStar Memory Care at Englefield Green, Ashley Manor-Elgin Way, Brookdale Boise Parkcenter, Regency Columbia Village, Independent Living Services Milclay;
Chubbuck: Brookdale Chubbuck; Coeur d’Alene: Advanced Health Care of Coeur d’Alene, Life Care Center of Coeur d’Alene, Coeur d’Alene Health and Rehab of Cascadia, Brookdale Coeur d’Alene, Lodge at Fairway Forest, Ivy Court, Renaissance at Coeur d’Alene, LaCrosse Health & Rehab, Creekside Inn Assisted Living; Eagle: Edgewood Spring Creek Eagle Island, Paramount Parks;
Fruitland: Edgewood Spring Creek Fruitland; Garden City: Emerson House at Riverpointe; Idaho Falls: Life Care Center of Idaho Falls, Parkwood Meadows, MorningStar of Idaho Falls, Teton Post-Acute Care and Rehab; Jerome: Creekside Care Center; Kootenai: Hearthstone Village; McCall: McCall Rehab and Care Center; Meridian: Creekside Transitional Care, Touchmark at Meadow Lake Village, Tomorrow’s Hope-Deb, Aspire-Elk Run, Veranda Senior Living-Paramount;
Montpelier: Bear Lake Manor, Bear Lake Memorial Skilled Nursing; Mountain Home: Country Living Retirement of Mountain Home, Cottages of Mountain Home; Nampa: Meadow View Nursing & Rehab, Orchards of Cascadia, Wellspring of Cascadia, Heron Place, Aspire-Sunset Oaks, Cascadia of Nampa; Orofino: Brookside Landing; Pocatello: Gateway Transitional Care Center, Quinn Meadows Rehab & Care Center, Brookdale Pocatello;
Post Falls: Life Care of Post Falls, The Bridge at Post Falls, Guardian Angel Homes; Rathdrum: Generations Assisted Living; Rexburg: Homestead Assisted Living Rexburg; Sandpoint: Life Care Center of Sandpoint, Huckleberry Retirement Homes II; St. Anthony: Homestead Assisted Living-St. Anthony; St. Maries: Valley Vista Care-St. Maries; Twin Falls: Bridgeview Estates-Assisted Living, Bridgeview Estates-Skilled Nursing.
IDAHO’S DAILY CASE AVERAGE DROPS AGAIN
Idaho’s seven-day moving average of new cases of COVID-19 stayed below 300 for the third straight day.
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare added 317 new cases Friday as the average fell to 288.4 cases per day. There were no new deaths reported for the second time in the past six days.
Health and Welfare has reported 179,204 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 since last March, with 100,093 people considered “recovered” from the virus.
The following Idaho counties reported new cases on Friday: Ada (115 new, 48,806 total), Bannock (11 new, 8,326 total), Benewah (1 new, 646 total), Bingham (5 new, 4,615 total), Blaine (3 new, 2,238 total), Boise (1 new, 320 total), Bonner (3 new, 3,084 total), Bonneville (59 new, 13,866 total), Boundary (1 new, 842 total), Canyon (42 new, 25,448 total), Caribou (3 new, 646 total), Cassia (2 new, 2,893 total), Elmore (5 new, 1,739 total), Franklin (1 new, 1,113 total), Gem (1 new, 1,728 total), Idaho (1 new, 1,172 total), Jefferson (13 new, 2,763 total), Kootenai (14 new, 17,131 total), Latah (2 new, 2,901 total), Lewis (1 new, 384 total), Lincoln (2 new, 493 total), Madison (9 new, 6,783 total), Minidoka (1 new, 2,308 total), Nez Perce (9 new, 3,475 total), Oneida (1 new, 344 total), Owyhee (3 new, 1,036 total), Payette (2 new, 2,440 total), Power (1 new, 645 total), Shoshone (1 new, 1,044 total), Teton (3 new, 1,145 total) and Valley (2 new, 821 total).
Health and Welfare removed one case from Jerome County (2,532 total).
DAILY DETAILS
Vaccine doses administered in Idaho: 662,644, according to Health and Welfare. Of those, 258,748 people have been fully vaccinated.
Overall hospitalizations: Health and Welfare reports that there have been 7,522 hospitalizations of people with COVID-19, 1,288 admissions to the ICU and 9,968 health care workers infected. Hospital and health care numbers are based on cases with completed investigations into contacts, not the full number of positives.
St. Luke’s Health System: As of March 25, the health system was reporting 27 patients in its hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 out of 495 patients overall. The health system reported a 14-day coronavirus test positivity rate of 5%.
Saint Alphonsus Health System: As of March 25, the health system was reporting 22 patients in its hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 out of 343 patients overall. The health system reported a 14-day coronavirus test positivity rate of 9.1%.
Boise School District: Reported confirmed cases since March 16: Borah High (2), North Jr. High (2), Owyhee Elementary (1), Valley View Elementary (1), Whittier Elementary (1).
West Ada School District: Reported confirmed cases for March 12-25: Eagle High (3), Meridian High (2), Rocky Mountain High (1), Eagle Middle (1), Lake Hazel Middle (1), Meridian Middle (1), Star Middle (1), Victory Middle (1), Eagle Hills Elementary (1), Hillsdale Elementary (2), Ponderosa Elementary (2), Siena Elementary (4).
Total COVID-19 cases by county (confirmed + probable): Ada 48,806, Adams 333, Bannock 8,326, Bear Lake 367, Benewah 646, Bingham 4,615, Blaine 2,238, Boise 320, Bonner 3,084, Bonneville 13,866, Boundary 842, Butte 202, Camas 71, Canyon 25,448, Caribou 646, Cassia 2,893, Clark 56, Clearwater 1,027, Custer 239, Elmore 1,739, Franklin 1,113, Fremont 1,075, Gem 1,728, Gooding 1,279, Idaho 1,172, Jefferson 2,763, Jerome 2,532, Kootenai 17,131, Latah 2,901, Lemhi 516, Lewis 384, Lincoln 493, Madison 6,783, Minidoka 2,308, Nez Perce 3,475, Oneida 344, Owyhee 1,036, Payette 2,440, Power 645, Shoshone 1,044, Teton 1,145, Twin Falls 9,116, Valley 821, Washington 1,196.
