BOISE, Idaho — The biggest headline about the ongoing fight against COVID-19 this past week is that the Pfizer vaccine has been approved for use in children ages 5-11.
Idaho pharmacies and clinics wasted no time making the vaccine for kids available around the state.
As for the current trends when it comes to COVID-19 in Gem State, it's fair to say that the numbers are improving, but still concerning.
Hospitalizations are trending down yet again, but the numbers are still high compared to what they were before the Delta variant surge.
The ICU numbers are also trending down, but only slightly when compared to the overall hospitalizations, and the state remains in Crisis Standards of Care.
For the week of Oct. 24 through Oct. 30, Idaho's COVID-19 test positivity rate dropped to 10.3%. The rate for the previous week was 11.3%. In Ada County, the rate dropped from 9.1% to 8.1%. Canyon County's decreased from 13.3% to 10.5%.
Idaho's two-week moving average of daily new cases is also continuing to drop. On Monday, the Gem State's daily average case counts dropped to 990, the first time the average has dropped below 1000 since early September.
By Thursday, the two-week average had dropped below 900.
Idaho's statewide vaccination rate surpassed 55% of the eligible population this week, but that percentage is expected to come down now that the vaccine is available for children ages 5-11.
However, healthcare leaders are still concerned about the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in Idaho.
For the latest COVID-19 news and updates, check out our interactive graphs and maps.
Here are the top COVID-19 stories this week in Idaho:
Harrison Halloween
For the second consecutive year, Harrison Boulevard in Boise's North End was not closed to traffic for Halloween. The street remained open last year and this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite the street remaining open for traffic, trick-or-treating was not canceled.
Many residents were excited to enjoy a beloved Halloween tradition once again, referring to Harrison Boulevard as an iconic part of the community.
"No one knows how to treat this, there's no grand party organizing, this is just a bunch of neighbors throwing it together for the community," said Dan O'Donnell, a homeowner. "So it was really going back and forth on how to safely do this and how to incorporate the community to keep things as normal as possible. This year, we are all vaccinated and feeling comfortable about things and we are trying to do it as safe as possible."
Whether a first-time visitor or an annual trick-or-treater, many people felt safe celebrating the holiday on Harrison Boulevard.
Fall for Idaho campaign off to rough start
Idaho was just three days into its “Fall for Idaho” tourism promotion campaign when crisis standards of care were activated statewide due to hospitals overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients — and the state slammed on the brakes.
The marketing campaign was put on pause for a month.
“Things are moving quickly. We’ve had to make a lot of adjustments over the last 18, 19 months,” said Matt Borud, marketing and innovation administrator for the Idaho Department of Commerce. “To understand what was happening, we felt like it was prudent for us to pause the campaign.”
The planned $800,000 fall campaign, which was focused on mostly digital marketing of outdoor Idaho adventures, started Sept. 13, halted Sept. 16, and then restarted Oct. 13. It’s now on track to run right up until the bigger winter tourism marketing campaign, which focuses in large part on the ski season, launches Nov. 8.
Election Day conservative sweep
Conservative candidates won all available seats up for election in West Ada and Nampa school district board elections Tuesday, which could cause a shift in policies when it comes to how schools handle the pandemic.
"With school board elections, it's just usually not as much focus, right? The combination between the pandemic and the focus on a lot of issue like critical race theory have really highlighted and brought to the forefront issues about public education," Boise State Associate Political Science Professor Jaclyn Kettler told KTVB on Wednesday.
Mandate lawsuit
Idaho Gov. Brad Little said Thursday afternoon that Idaho will join other states in a lawsuit against the administration of President Joe Biden in response to a new federal vaccine mandate for workers.
The suit comes after the White House unveiled the new requirement that Americans who work at companies with 100 or more employees will either need to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing. The new rules, which go into effect Jan. 4, apply to an estimated 84 million people, although it is unclear how many in that group are already vaccinated.
Another group of workers - those employed by nursing homes, hospitals and other facilities that receive money from Medicare and Medicaid - would be required to get the vaccine, without the option to undergo testing instead.
Companies that fail to comply with the mandate could be fined up to $14,000 per violation under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
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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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