COVID-19 Update: July 23, 2021

In the last two weeks, nearly every COVID metric has worsened in Idaho, matching nationwide trends as the Delta variant spreads throughout the country. On Tuesday, officials with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare told reporters that hospitalizations and new cases continue to increase, and almost every single one of those patients is unvaccinated. ICU admissions have doubled since the beginning of July. The statewide test positivity rate has climbed to 5.7 percent, though some regions are seeing a higher percentage of tests coming back positive. Public Health District 6 in southeastern Idaho has a positivity rate of 8.4 percent, and Eastern Idaho's Public Health District 7 has a positivity rate of 9.9 percent. So far, 30 cases with the highly transmissible Delta variant have been identified in Idaho. State epidemiologist Dr. Christine Hahn said Tuesday that doesn’t mean the Delta variant isn’t more prevalent in the state, and state laboratories are continuing to ramp up their efforts to sequence more positive samples to identify variants. Currently, 52.2 percent of Idahoans ages 18 and older are at least partially vaccinated. Nationwide, that number is 68.6 percent.