Two new COVID-19 cases in North Idaho
This illustration provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in January 2020 shows the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV). This virus was identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention via AP)
SANDPOINT — Two new cases of novel coronavirus emerged in Kootenai County over the weekend, according to the Panhandle Health District.
The new cases put the regional total at 70 confirmed cases, with 66 cases in Kootenai County and four cases in Bonner County. The virus, which causes COVID-19, has not been detected in Boundary, Shoshone or Benewah counties, the health district said.
The virus has caused seven hospitalizations in the Panhandle Health District, which reported on Monday that 66 people are no longer being monitored.
The Northeast Tri-County Health District in Washington state tallied one new case in Stevens County, elevating the regional total to 13 cases. Pend Oreille County has two cases, while Stevens County has 10 cases and Ferry County had one case which proved fatal.
The Idaho Department of Health & Welfare recorded 30 new confirmed or probable cases of coronavirus, bringing the statewide case total to 2,419. The virus is blamed for 73 deaths, although none have occurred in the Panhandle.
Between March 3 and May 12, there have been 36,456 statewide COVID-19 laboratory tests across the state, with 5,808 people being tested in the Panhandle, according to statistics kept by Idaho Health & Welfare. Testing in the Panhandle has bounced around the 100-test per day band, although there have been as few as one test per day and as many as 187 tests per day in the Panhandle since the outbreak took hold.
Testing data for the latter half of May was not available on Monday.
Testing peaked between March 9 and April 4, with 5,582 tests, 7.1 percent of which tested positive. Testing was on the decline until the period between April 26 and May 2, when 4,281 tests were administered, 3.7 percent of which came back positive for the virus, according to Health & Welfare. The percentage of positive tests increased slightly to 4.0 percent on May 3 through May 9.
The state of Montana reported two new cases on Monday, with seven cases in Lincoln County and none in Sanders County. Altogether, the state of Montana has 470 cases.