BLAINE COUNTY, Idaho — Blaine County was an early coronavirus hotspot in Idaho.
In March, Governor Brad Little decided to lock down the entire county in an effort to help slow the spread of the virus.
Months later, Blaine County is finally starting to recover.
“It was very intense,” Dr. Frank Batcha, Chief of Staff at St. Luke’s Wood River Valley said Friday.
“I spent a year in Iraq with the Idaho Army National Guard back in 2005 and what I experienced in March and April was as close to that as anything I’ve experienced in my life."
While he does have hesitations about how things may go in the future, Dr. Batcha says things are getting back to normal.
“A lot of people in the community are happy that the restrictions are being eased and they can get back to a semblance of a more normal life,” Batcha said.
In March, we checked in with former KTVB reporter and current Blaine County resident Shannon Camp. She says since then, things have really changed.
“I would say Sun Valley is the busiest I’ve ever seen it since I’ve lived here, for this time of year,” Camp said, adding the area feels drastically different.
“The town is super busy, the trailheads are slammed, the river is really busy if you’re going out fishing. Summer is in full swing,” Camp said. “We went from being a ghost town in early March to now being in full swing. You would never know, aside from people wearing face masks in stores, that we were ever on a lockdown.”
Camp says more recently, the area has started to buzz again, with more and more cars with license plates from outside the area coming into Blaine County.
“I would say the beginning of June, as soon as it started to get nice,” she said. “Oregon, California, Washington, Utah, basic people from all the surrounding states. People are here and I think people are really taking advantage of the fact that it does feel somewhat normal right now."
It's a catch-22: those out of town guests are a big part of the tourism industry, which means more money coming into their economy, which took a major hit just like most places during the shutdown.
At the same time, having so many visitors from out of town are worrying to some.
“Every Friday afternoon we start seeing those plates from 1A and 2C and all the other different counties coming up here," Camp said. "So there is always just that collective, hold your breath, and let’s just hope that everybody is kind of respecting the way we do things up here."
Dr. Batcha is worried some people are already disregarding social distancing and other guidelines.
If Blaine County is to stay healthy into the summer months, Batcha says it will take people acting responsibly.
“Wearing their mask in public, washing their hands, keeping their physical distance, not touching their face, being mindful of other people," Dr. Batcha said. "I think that is the biggest message I would like to convey.”
Join 'The 208' conversation:
- Text us at (208) 321-5614
- E-mail us at the208@ktvb.com
- Join our The 208 Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/the208KTVB/
- Follow us on Twitter: @the208KTVB or tweet #the208 and #SoIdaho
- Follow us on Instagram: @the208KTVB
- Bookmark our landing page: /the-208
- And we also turn each episode into a podcast on Spotify or Podbeam
- Still reading this list? We're on YouTube, too: