MERIDIAN, Idaho — The state of Idaho is preparing for the novel coronavirus. On Wednesday, Gov. Brad Little and state health officials held a press conference to address the virus.
At this time, there are no confirmed cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus in the state of Idaho.
“We must do what we can to keep those vulnerable folks safe,” Little said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, COVID-19 is thought to spread mainly from person to person; generally, by people who are in close contact with one another or through coughs and sneezes.
Little called on Idahoans to practice good hygiene to limit the chances of spreading the disease to senior citizens and people with compromised immune systems.
This means businesses like Visiting Angels Living Assistance Services in Meridian are taking extra precautions in order to prevent their clients from getting sick.
According to the company, Visiting Angels provides home care services like helping with grooming or hygiene, transportation, helping around the house and more.
“We're following the current CDC guidelines on the prevention of spread of COVID-19,” Executive Director Matthew Croft said. “We are encouraging all of our caregivers before they enter any of our client’s residences, sanitize their hands using hand sanitizer.”
“Then immediately upon entering, wash your hands vigorously for 20 seconds using soap and water.”
The business has a caregiver station at their office where rubber gloves and hand sanitizer are available. Croft told KTVB the business is also providing their office employees a hand sanitizer bottle at their desks.
“As things started progressing over the last few weeks, we put in an additional order,” Croft said. “So, we are well stocked and we should be able to weather this out.”
The business stocked up because they need certain hygiene supplies in order to safely care for their clients.
At his press conference, the governor addressed the emptying of shelves of cleaning supplies and food in stores.
“If you buy all the hand sanitizer, and you buy all the masks you're actually doing yourself a disfavor,” he said.
Businesses like Visiting Angels are taking these extra precautions in order to prevent an outbreak of the disease.
Croft said they go over the CDC guidelines daily in order to stay up to date with the best hygiene practices.
“Wash your hands, don't touch your face, keep your workplace clean,” he said. “Allow your employees to stay home if they are sick, don't force anyone to come to work when they are ill.”
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare is currently monitoring eight people for the novel coronavirus. Six people have been tested for it and, as of Wednesday night, there are no confirmed cases in the state.
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Facts not fear: Putting COVID-19 into context
The majority of people who have coronavirus will get better without any long-term effects, according to an Oregon doctor. About 82% of cases tend to be mild. In these cases, symptoms diminish over five to seven days, although people are still capable of transmitting the disease. But there are many people with a higher risk of having a more severe disease if they are diagnosed with coronavirus, including those with heart disease, diabetes, asthma and other vascular disease problems.
Also, most children who get it have mild symptoms.
To put the coronavirus numbers in context, millions of Americans get the flu every single year and there are thousands of flu deaths annually.
Since October 2019, the CDC estimates around 32 million Americans have gotten the flu. That’s one in every 10 Americans.
Since the coronavirus outbreak began late last year, there have been around 80,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in China. That means those cases account for just around .0056% of China's population.”