COVID-19 Update: July 30, 2021

The state’s positivity rate has climbed to eight percent, and the number of confirmed cases with the Delta variant is now at 70, which is more than twice what it was last week. Every one of the state’s public health districts has seen an increase in the percentage of tests coming back positive, with the north central region seeing the highest positivity rate last week at 12.7 percent. Right now, the counties with the highest incidence rates in the state are Lewis, Adams, Twin Falls, Shoshone, and Boise. The number of patients admitted to the ICU with COVID-19 has more than doubled since the beginning of July, with hospitals reporting 49 patients statewide as of Monday. That number is still half of what it was during the pandemic’s peak in December, but those numbers are continuing to trend up, not down. Dr. Steven Nemerson of Saint Alphonsus told KTVB last week that all of the critically ill patients in his facility are unvaccinated. Currently, just 45.8 percent of Idahoans ages 12 and older are fully vaccinated. That’s compared to a national rate of 57.8 percent.