Shoshone COVID cases spike to 55 total; 47 active
COEUR d’ALENE – The Panhandle Health District has reported that Shoshone County’s confirmed COVID-19 count has spiked to 55 (47 active) since the first official case was discovered on July 2.
PHD public information officer Katherine Hoyer reports that the newest cases belong to 11 males (seven in their 50’s, two below the age of 18, one their 40’s, and another in their 70’s) and six females (three in their 50’s, two under the age of 18, and one in her 60’s).
Local health officials have confirmed that of these new cases, three of them are residents of Pacifica Senior Living in Pinehurst and another two are staff members of Good Samaritan Society in Silverton. One of these residents at Pacificia is Shoshone County’s second hospitalized COVID-19 patient.
North Idaho coronavirus deaths have also jumped to six- all from Kootenai County
As of July 27, the Panhandle area has had a total of 1,594 confirmed COVID-19 cases (907 active). There have been 1,325 confirmed in Kootenai County (752 active, 6 deaths), 134 in Bonner (72 active), 33 in Benewah (5 active), 30 in Boundary (25 active), 55 in Shoshone (47 active), and 17 are currently undetermined (6 active).
PHD states that there are currently 35 individuals who are hospitalized due to COVID-19 and 72 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/