PHD reports third COVID-19 death in Shoshone

COEUR d’ALENE – The Panhandle Health District has reported that Shoshone County now has three deaths attributed to COVID-19.

This most recent death brings the total number in North Idaho to 24- 20 from Kootenai, 3 from Shoshone, and 1 from Benewah.

As of August 12, the Panhandle area has had a total of 2,330 confirmed COVID-19 cases (845 active). There have been 1,905 confirmed in Kootenai County (645 active, 20 deaths), 189 in Bonner (59 active), 67 in Benewah (27 active), 38 in Boundary (22 active),129 in Shoshone (83 active, 3 deaths), and 21 are currently undetermined (9 active).

PHD states that there are currently 26 individuals who are hospitalized due to COVID-19 and 136 total that have ever been hospitalized.

Once PHD receives notification of a confirmed case from a lab, they connect with that individual to verify their information. This can be difficult for a variety of reasons, such as: contact tracing is voluntary and relies on an individual’s willingness to participate, information provided may be incomplete/incorrect/or not provided at all, and those experiencing homelessness or are in a transient living situation may take longer to determine a primary county of residence.

PHD will continue to monitor the situation closely and are working with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, city leaders, schools, emergency management, healthcare providers, and our community at large to help prevent the further spread of the virus.

According to the CDC, people with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported – ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness.

Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus. People with these symptoms may have COVID-19:

• Cough

• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing

• Fever

• Chills

• Muscle pain

• Sore throat

• New loss of taste or smell

This list is not all possible symptoms. Other less common symptoms have been reported, including gastrointestinal symptoms like nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.

If community members have these symptoms and they become severe, they should call PHD’s call center at 1-877-415-5225 or their provider. PHD will provide an over the phone assessment to determine if someone should be tested. Please call, do not come into PHD or your provider’s office.

COVID-19 testing data can be found at coronavirus.idaho.gov. For data specific to our area, look at PHD1.

For more details on local cases, number of currently hospitalized, and the total number of hospitalizations throughout the pandemic, visit the PHD website at panhandlehealthdistrict.org/covid-19/