BOISE, Idaho — Idaho added more than 1,600 COVID-19 cases on Thursday, and the state's test positivity rate again shot up as hospitals are at their capacity levels.
The state added 1,602 new cases Thursday, according to data from the Department of Health and Welfare. For the week of Aug. 22-28, the test positivity rate was 14.2%, higher than the previous week and significantly higher than the 5% benchmark that public health experts use to determine if a pandemic is out of control.
Despite the extraordinary circumstances, regional hospital leaders believe caseloads will continue to climb.
"We are not even close to the worst, and that scares us," said Dr. Richard Augustus, chief medical officer of Caldwell's West Valley Medical Center, at a press conference with other hospitals on Thursday. Leaders at multiple Treasure Valley hospitals stressed that 95% of their patients hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated, indicating that most severe illness is preventable with vaccination.
"We continue to lose people who didn't have to die," Augustus said. "We continue to comfort families about a death that didn't have to happen."
As of Thursday, only 48.9% of Idahoans 12 or over are fully vaccinated, according to state data.
On Monday, the most recent date available, there were 526 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Idaho, and 162 patients in an intensive care unit, IDHW data shows.
Dr. Steven Nemerson, chief clinical officer at Saint Alphonsus Health System, said that hospital models show a rise in infections and hospitalizations likely continuing through the end of September.
Of the day's new cases, 494 were in Ada County, 184 were in Canyon County and 257 were in Kootenai County, home to Coeur d'Alene. North Idaho is struggling with a large surge in cases, which has led to a shortage of beds at Kootenai Health, a major hospital.
The state also added eight deaths on Thursday. The state's seven-day moving average of new cases is 1,014, a rate not seen since January.
Since the start of the pandemic, the state has had 9,942 hospitalizations, 1,654 intensive care unit admissions and 11,579 health care workers infected.
