New coronavirus case numbers and COVID-19 deaths appeared to drop across Idaho during Christmas week.
As of Saturday evening, the state and its seven health districts reported 135,886 confirmed or probable coronavirus cases, a 6 percent increase from the previous week.
Over the eight-day period, 79 Idahoans died from COVID-19.
New hospitalizations and ICU admissions also appeared to slow somewhat — and this remains a critical metric, as health care experts fear a surge of coronavirus cases could force swamped hospitals to ration care.
While this week’s numbers appear encouraging, they also are probably incomplete. Health districts are not required to report numbers every day, so delays are likely because of the Christmas holiday.
One key trend this week: Ada and Kootenai counties account for nearly half of the new cases over the past eight days.
Here are the latest numbers, and comparisons with last week:
| Statewide data | Dec. 18 | Dec. 26 | Change, Dec. 12-18 | Change, Dec. 19-26 |
| Cases, confirmed and probable | 128,218 | 135,886 | 8,375 | 7,668 |
| Total cases, ages 0-4 | 1,901 | 2,005 | 143 | 104 |
| Total cases, ages 5-12 | 4,510 | 4,712 | 271 | 202 |
| Total cases, ages 13-17 | 7,296 | 7,625 | 435 | 329 |
| Total cases, ages 18-29 | 32,601 | 34,328 | 1,794 | 1,727 |
| Deaths | 1,275 | 1,354 | 109 | 79 |
| Patients ever hospitalized | 5,086 | 5,392 | 367 | 306 |
| Patients ever admitted to ICU | 928 | 982 | 57 | 54 |
| Patients recovered, estimated | 49,914 | 54,574 | 4,104 | 4,660 |
| Idahoans tested | 521,917 | 536,767 | 19,847 | 14,850 |
| Health care workers infected | 6,215 | 6,629 | 418 | 414 |
| Vaccine doses administered | 2,306 | 9.673 | 2,306 | 7,367 |
| Positive test rate (based on all cases divided by testing numbers, as reported by the state) | 24.5 percent | 25.3 percent | +0.6 percentage points | +0.8 percentage points |
| Top 10 counties, by total cases | Dec. 18 | Dec. 26 | New cases, Dec. 19-26 | New cases per day, per 100,000 population |
| Ada | 33,610 | 36,438 | 2,828 | 73.4 |
| Canyon | 19,082 | 19,903 | 821 | 44.6 |
| Kootenai | 10,937 | 11,942 | 1,005 | 75.9 |
| Bonneville | 9,574 | 10,084 | 510 | 55.6 |
| Twin Falls | 7,600 | 7,773 | 173 | 24.8 |
| Bannock | 5,845 | 6,189 | 344 | 49.0 |
| Madison | 5,019 | 5,162 | 143 | 45.0 |
| Bingham | 3,399 | 3,536 | 137 | 36.6 |
| Nez Perce | 2,846 | 2,944 | 98 | 30.3 |
| Cassia | 2,433 | 2,483 | 50 | 26.0 |
|
|
||||
| Ten hotspot counties (most daily cases, per 100,000 population) | Dec. 18 | Dec. 26 | New cases, Dec. 19-26 | New cases per day, per 100,000 population |
| Adams | 173 | 225 | 52 | 151.4 |
| Valley | 364 | 443 | 79 | 86.7 |
| Kootenai | 10,937 | 11,942 | 1,005 | 75.9 |
| Ada | 33,610 | 36,438 | 2,828 | 73.4 |
| Elmore | 1,161 | 1,316 | 155 | 70.4 |
| Shoshone | 733 | 803 | 70 | 67.9 |
| Bonner | 1,563 | 1,807 | 244 | 66.8 |
| Idaho | 922 | 1,004 | 82 | 61.5 |
| Lewis | 317 | 335 | 18 | 58.6 |
| Butte | 146 | 158 | 12 | 57.8 |
