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Healthcare leaders, Boise mayor sound the alarm as COVID-19 infections soar again

"It makes me think about coming to the finish line, and seeing another hill."

BOISE, Idaho — Health leaders and Boise Mayor Lauren McLean renewed a plea for the community to do their part as a wave of new COVID-19 infections threatens to overwhelm Idaho's exhausted medical workers.

As the pandemic enters its 17th month, hospital officials say, patients coming into emergency rooms and clinics are younger, sicker, and overwhelmingly unvaccinated.

That has to change, McLean said. 

"I really deeply believe that we owe it to our kids, to our community's kids, to our family and neighbors, to our coworkers, to the businesses throughout the city to get vaccinated," she said during a Wednesday afternoon briefing. "It is safe, it is effective - it is the single most effective thing that you can do to ensure that we can get beyond this and that we can protect the life of those who can't be vaccinated, and the kids in particular, that can't yet." 

At Primary Health, the positivity rate hit 20% this week, CEO Dr. David Peterman said, well above the state target of 5%. The number of people who come in seeking a COVID test - most of them symptomatic - has increased threefold. Monday, Aug. 2 marked the second-highest number of visits to urgent care clinics in Primary Health's history, Peterman said.

"Every age range has at least a double or triple increase," he said. "Most concerning is in the 5- to 12-year-olds, there is a triple increase in the positivity rate." 

Worse, the mildly- or medium-sick people in his clinics act as a harbinger of how many desperately-sick people will end up in Treasure Valley hospitals days or weeks later, Peterman said.

Dr. Jim Souza, St. Luke's chief physician executive, said the health system is already beginning to strain under the growing caseload. St. Luke's is starting to plan when and how to pull back elective treatments, and some patients are being boarded in the emergency room simply because there are no beds for them in intensive care, he said. 

In just two weeks, St. Luke's coronavirus patients jumped from 40 to 79, with an average age of 59 years old. Nineteen of them are in critical care, Souza said. Almost every one is unvaccinated.

"Seventy-nine patients might not sound like a lot, but please recognize what that means," he said. "It means that 15 to 20% of our entire adult bed capacity is occupied by one diagnosis, and one that is growing rapidly." 

At Saint Alphonsus, coronavirus infectees make up 6 percent of the hospital system's patients, Executive Medical Director Dr. Patrice Burgess said - up from a fraction of a percent just weeks ago. 

"I think the sad thing is, we were so close to having the community spread drop down into a more safe range where we could legitimately relax more precautions, and that has changed in the last four weeks," she said.

Nurses, doctors, and other medical staffers have been taking on extra shifts and extra patients, she said, describing their plight as being trapped in a marathon that won't end. 

"It makes me think about coming to the finish line, and seeing another hill," she said. "That is, I think, how a lot of our healthcare workers are feeling. So, we really do need the community's help to keep themselves safe and also preserve our capacity."

Getting vaccinated is the first step, the doctors agreed. The healthcare leaders also urged Idahoans to return to wearing masks - even if they are vaccinated - to help slow the spread. Boise School District trustees voted Tuesday to require all students and staff to mask up during the 2021-2022 school year.

McLean, who lifted her previous mask order for the City of Boise in May, did not indicate whether she is considering making face coverings mandatory once more. Idaho Gov. Brad Little has declined to issue any mask orders throughout the pandemic, saying that it was a matter for local jurisdictions to decide. 

Peterman said it was "incredible" how little COVID-19 spread had happened at Primary Health clinics when he, employees, and patients all wore a mask.

"We need to wear masks indoors, bottom line, final answer," Peterman said. "There is data after data, all across the world, that masks work."

At KTVB, we’re focusing our news coverage on the facts and not the fear around the virus. To see our full coverage, visit our coronavirus section, here: www.ktvb.com/coronavirus.

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