COVID-19 Update: January 28, 2022

On Monday, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare reactivated crisis standards of care for three of southern Idaho’s public health districts due to a critical shortage of healthcare staff, as well as blood products used for transfusions and certain treatments. The affected health districts include Southwest Public Health, Central District Health, and South Central Public Health. IDHW says the rest of the state may fall under crisis standards of care if trends don’t soon change. Idaho continues to break daily case count records, with thousands of new cases recorded every day, and more than 40,000 backlogged positive laboratory results that haven’t yet been logged. Hospitalizations continue to rise, including among pediatric patients. The state’s test positivity rate is at 38 percent, with East Idaho Public Health District reporting a positivity rate near 50 percent.