Holiday week coronavirus numbers suggest a continued improvement

A week after Idaho deactivated crisis standards of care at most of its hospitals, Thanksgiving week coronavirus numbers appeared to show continued signs of improvement.

The numbers are almost certainly incomplete, because of the long holiday weekend. But here are the latest numbers:

New cases. On Saturday, the state and its health districts reported 305,802 confirmed or probable coronavirus cases.

That translates to 2,443 weekly cases, compared to 3,450 new cases in the pre-holiday week.

Child cases. Here again, the reported numbers suggest another weekly decrease.

Over the past week, 274 new cases involved school-aged children, aged 5 to 17. For the previous week, that number was 454.

The new weekly numbers might be incomplete, but child case numbers have been slowing over the past two months.

Three children were hospitalized with COVID-19, down from four the previous week.

One Idaho child has died of COVID-19.

Hospitalizations. Here, the numbers are clearly incomplete — but they indicate a continuing, positive trend.

On Wednesday, the state tallied 230 COVID-19 hospitalizations and 72 ICU admissions. But not every hospital reported numbers Wednesday.

However, hospitalizations have steadily decreased over two months.

Crisis standards of care remain in place in the Panhandle Health District, covering five counties in North Idaho.

Deaths. The state reported 53 new COVID-19 deaths last week — which, if complete, would suggest a decrease of close to 50%.

In all, 3,899 Idahoans have died of COVID-19.

Positive test rates. Decreasing, for 10 successive weeks.

For the seven-day period ending Nov. 20, 6.8% of coronavirus cases came back positive, down from 7.2% the preceding week.

State officials want to see this rate return to 5% — a number that suggests a virus is under control.

Vaccinations. Over the past week, another 4,815 Idahoans became fully vaccinated — also a significant drop from previous weeks.

Current vaccination rates:

  • Overall: 56.7%. (Last week: 56.3%.)
  • 12- to 15-year-olds: 33%. (Unchanged.)
  • 16- and 17-year-olds: 40%. (Last week: 39%.)
  • 18- to 24-year-olds: 45%. (Unchanged.)

Meanwhile, 15,500 5- to 11-year-olds have received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, 5,444 in the past week.

Editor’s note: K-12 and higher education data is incomplete, due to last week’s Thanksgiving break. Idaho Education News will compile these numbers again next week.

Kevin Richert

Kevin Richert

Senior reporter and blogger Kevin Richert specializes in education politics and education policy. He has more than 30 years of experience in Idaho journalism. He is a frequent guest on "Idaho Reports" on Idaho Public Television and "Idaho Matters" on Boise State Public Radio. Follow Kevin on Twitter: @KevinRichert. He can be reached at [email protected]

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