Since last week, 500 new cases of coronavirus have been registered every day in the small, rural northwestern US state of Idaho — a sign of the rapid spread of the disease across the country. With only 1.8 million inhabitants, Idaho — famous for its potatoes and meat processing plants— is witnessing a resurgence of the virus as it spreads through the South and West of the United States. In the meantime, New York and the North-Eastern United States, where the outbreak first struck hardest, have continued to reduce the rate of infection.
Coronavirus outbreaks in states such as Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California have gained a lot of publicity in previous weeks for their record-breaking numbers. But some medical experts are raising alarms in other parts of the U.S. where the virus spreads at an alarming pace, despite making fewer headlines. In a recent tweet, Harvard Global Health Institute (HGHI) Director Ashish Jha, MD, pointed out that “one small state is experiencing a very bad situation [that] has gotten very little attention: Idaho.”
According to data out of the Gem State, all metrics of the disease are getting more and more serious. “Their case numbers are up 1,366 percent since June 15,” Jha tweeted. But those are not the only numbers to spike in Idaho in the past month: the positive state test rate, which was 3.4 percent just over 30 days ago, is now five times higher, rising to 18.3 percent; hospitalizations have risen by 780 percent since 15 June (from 24 to 188), and the death rate has quadrupled from one death every other day to 2.5 deaths per day.
Measured by population size, Idaho’s infection rate over the past seven days has ranked eighth nationally, right behind major southern and western states like Florida, Louisiana, and Texas, according to the New York Times. Jha also highlighted that focusing exclusively on controlling outbreaks in large population hubs could be a major disaster for many smaller communities.
Not so many hospital beds in Idaho have been occupied by coronavirus patients since the onset of the pandemic—224 on July 15. The maximum number of hospitalizations was 71 in April. There are “very concerning rises in rural America, which has far less hospital capacity,” he tweeted. The doctor argued that keeping situations under control in states like Idaho is important for the U.S. to really fight the disease.
“For a while, some folks argued COVID was a disease of dense areas (i.e. cities),” he wrote. “Turns out, it’s a disease of humanity.” He concluded: “We have to help states like ID get this under control.”
The situation in Idaho wasn’t quite as bad as it is now. As one of the few states that noticed a successful decline in initial cases, businesses were reopened pretty early in June. But somehow, the state quickly experienced a spike in outbreaks linked to crowded bars and supermarkets, Associated Press (AP) reported. State authorities are now in tension with medical experts who share Jha ‘s concerns that hospitals in Idaho will soon be overwhelmed if numbers aren’t brought back under control.
On several occasions, Idaho ‘s governor, Republican Brad Little, has postponed the complete re-opening of the economy, previously scheduled for the end of June. But all shops and services, including nightclubs, are open — with social distancing requirements. On July 4, Idaho’s largest city, Boise, the epicenter of state’s infections, made wearing a mask in outdoor and enclosed public spaces mandatory.
“Our modeling shows week after week increases,” Chris Roth, CEO of St. Luke’s Medical System in Idaho, told the AP in early July. “There’s nothing that we’ve been able to determine is going to change the trajectory at this point, given the collective behaviors of the community.”
But in other parts of the state, the suggestion of enforcing the use of face masks has led to extreme resistance from residents, causing health officials in the north of the state to back down, according to The Spokesman-Review newspaper. Anti-mask protests have been taking place across the United States as local authorities try to get residents to cover up and avoid the spread of the disease. In an interview aired Sunday, President Donald Trump clarified that he did not plan to issue a nationwide mask-wearing mandate, instead, he leaves the call to individual states.
