Idaho's number of deaths and cases of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, continue to climb amid a worldwide pandemic.
New confirmed Idaho cases, closures and resources to help are announced every day.
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Friday, April 10
5:15 p.m. -- Death reported in Canyon County
Health and Welfare says Canyon County now has five deaths reported total, with 145 confirmed cases. See a county-by-county case breakdown and other interactive graphs in our map and timeline.
4:30 p.m. -- City of Hailey extending isolation order
The Hailey City Council voted today to extend its isolation order for one week. The current order was set to expire at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, April 12.
The order continues restrictions that are more strict than those within Idaho's statewide stay-at-home order:
- Residential and commercial construction projects are identified as non-essential businesses and not allowed to operate in Hailey at this time.
- Plumbers, electricians and other trades can only perform work that is immediate and essential.
- Landscaping and other residential service providers are identified as non- essential businesses and are not allowed to operate at this time.
- Hotels and short-term rentals may not offer lodging to non-residents of Blaine County, except lodging may be provided to health care workers or those performing essential government functions.
- Blaine County residents returning home from out of state travel must self isolate at home for 14 days upon their return. Visitors from out of state coming to Blaine County must also self-isolate for 14 days.
- Travel outside of Blaine County to obtain items otherwise available in the County is prohibited.
- Gatherings of non-related individuals inside homes who don't live there are prohibited.
2:46 p.m. -- First Interstate Bank donates $25,000 to help children and families
The money will go to two local Boys & Girls Clubs, the Boys & Girls Club of Ada County and the Boys & Girls Club of Nampa to assist during the COVID-19 pandemic.
These donations will help provide emergency childcare for children whose parents are healthcare workers, first responders, and others who are essential to our community. The funds will also provide the help needed to maintain safe staffing ratios, ensuring proper social distancing, and to provide a safe haven for families in need by keeping all sites open with extended hours.
2:39 p.m. -- Boise State offering housing for healthcare workers
Boise State is opening up its on-campus housing to local healthcare workers who are worried about going home and spreading COVID-19 to their families.
The university is working with health systems and other employers to provide the housing for the workers, but the university "can't work with individual" employees, a spokesman said.
The housing is available because most students are already gone for the rest of the spring semester. The university is working to make sure the housing is maintained and cleaned in a way that will prevent spread of coronavirus to any students or staff at Boise State.
Each health worker will live alone in a suite of rooms, and will not share a bathroom or living space with anyone else. They will also not be placed in rooms where students still have belongings that they have not been able to collect.
All remaining students on campus are living in apartment-style housing that will not be used to hold healthcare workers.
11:18 a.m. - Ada County Dispatch getting hundreds of complaints about people violating stay-home order
The Ada County Sheriff's Office says they have received more than 230 calls about violations to Idaho's stay-at-home order since March 26. The calls complaints about children playing outside, teens playing sports together, people failing to maintain six feet of distance, and businesses that appear to have people inside.
"We'd like to gently ask people to weigh whether any behavior they see is actually creating an immediate or significant danger," the Ada County Sheriff's Office wrote in a release. "If not, then it probably isn't worth worrying about too much about or deserving of a call to law enforcement."
The sheriff's office has not issued any tickets.
Thursday, April 9
6:35 p.m. -- In case you missed it: Gov. Brad Little discussed whether his stay-at-home order will be extended, the Adams County prosecutor is urging the governor to rescind the order, and an Idaho nurse is headed to New York City to help in the front-line fight against COVID-19.
5:25 p.m. -- Two deaths reported in Canyon, Jerome counties, bringing statewide death toll to 24. Total confirmed coronavirus cases now at 1354. See a county-by-county case breakdown and other interactive graphs in our map and timeline.
5:12 p.m. -- President Trump approves Idaho's disaster declarationPresident Trump on Thursday approved a major disaster declaration for Idaho and ordered federal assistance to supplement state and local efforts related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The president's action frees up federal funding for "emergency protective measures, including direct Federal assistance, for all areas in the State of Idaho impacted by COVID-19."
4:23 p.m. -- Three additional deaths reported in Nez Perce County
North Central Health District is reporting three new deaths in Nez Perce County due to COVID-19. The county now has five deaths total. The health district is also now reporting two "probable cases," which are people who have COVID-19 symptoms and have had direct contact with confirmed cases, but have not been tested. See a county-by-county case breakdown and other interactive graphs in our map and timeline.
2:30 p.m. -- Boise School District extends soft closure through May 22nd, postpone graduation ceremonies until late July
Trustees approved the extension at their meeting Thursday. The decision allows district officials to move forward on a number of critical fronts including graduation, personal item pick-up, and summer school.
Graduation ceremonies have been postponed until late July and senior are celebrations planned for May.
Trustees approved video celebrations of seniors in May for all high schools, as well as postponing live, in-person ceremonies until the week of July 20th. Any in-person gatherings in July will require compliance with CDC guidelines in place at the time.
Principals are also working on plans to allow families and students to retrieve personal items from schools in the coming weeks.
Beginning April 13th, parents and students will have access to grade level and course specific weekly lessons for the remainder of the school year. Teachers will be available to provide students and families with support and feedback as they complete the learning. Individual school support schedules will be shared with families in the coming days.
12:57 p.m. -- St. Luke's mandates all staff wear masks
All staff and providers at all St. Luke's hospitals and clinics will be required to wear fluid-resistant masks, the hospital system announced Thursday.
The masks must be worn in patient care areas and common areas, as well as home care areas. Food and nutrition staff and building services personnel are included in the mandate.
"The goal is to help prevent the community spread of COVID-19," said St. Luke's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jim Souza. "Donning procedure masks while in patient-care areas reduces the risk of asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic spread of the virus, both from patients to employees and from an employee to a patient."
Read more about what the hospital is doing to prevent the spread of COVID-19 here.
12:24 p.m. - Blaine County up to 441 cases
South Central District Health added 34 cases, bringing the statewide total to 1294.
10:46 a.m. - Idahoans file 30,000 more unemployment claims
Unemployment in Idaho continues to rise, with 30,904 more people filing their initial unemployment claim for the week of March 29-April 4. A total of 77,430 people have filed since Gov. Brad Little declared a state of emergency March 8 - a 7,400% percent increase.
More than half - 57% of the new unemployment claims are from people who had been working in the fields of food service, health care and social assistance, construction, or retail. Twenty-seven percent of all claims were filed by people in the 25 to 34 age range.
The rise in coronavirus-related layoffs is reflected across the country, where unemployment claim numbers hit 16.8 million nationally, a new record.
In case you missed it, we covered a Blaine County virtual town hall on coronavirus. One expert says the situation hasn't worsened in the last week or so.
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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At KTVB, we’re focusing our news coverage on the facts and not the fear around the virus. To see our full coverage and the latest COVID-19 case numbers, visit our coronavirus section here: www.ktvb.com/coronavirus
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