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Idaho FALS – The Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center has recently seen a huge increase in the number of hospital admissions to COVID-19, and national figures show that the Rexburg area has the largest outbreak in the country.
In the 24-hour period between Thursday and Friday, the number of COVID-19 patients increased from 19 to 31, according to hospital statistics compiled by EastIdahoNews.com. Now four days later, that number has remained high while there are currently 29 patients being treated for novel coronavirus. Thankfully only six Covid-19 patients are intensive care at EIRMC.
Idaho Falls Community Hospital Hospital, Madison Memorial Hospital in Rexburgh and Bingham Memorial Hospital in Blackfoot also saw an increase. In all, the largest hospital in the region (excluding Portnef Medical Center in Poctello) has grown from 35 hospitals to 53. Hospital administrators say Covid-19 is putting more and more strain on the area’s hospital resources.
The jump is the most recent indicator of how fast COVID-19 spreads in eastern Idaho.
It is not the only indicator.
On Monday, the New York Times reported that the second-largest COVID-19 outbreak in the Rexburg metropolitan area is currently the second largest in the country. This means that in the last two weeks, they have seen new cases involving their population. In this case 742 new cases for a population of 53,006.
Local data supports this. Eastern Idaho Public Health shows that Madison County now regularly surpasses Bonneville County in the number of new cases. Madison currently has 266 active cases, compared to Bowdenville’s 235 active cases. Last week, due to rising cases, Brigham Young University-Idaho warned it could have to shut down again to slow the spread of the virus. One of the silver linings in Madison is that their hospital admissions rate is low, as most active cases are in younger college-aged adults.
Another indicator of continued spread is the death rate, which goes up, albeit at a much slower pace. Two new COVID-19s died on Tuesday – one in Carabou County and one in Bonneville County. That brings the total number of deaths in eastern Idaho to 49. With one exception, Eastern Idaho deaths are all over the age of 50. COVID-19 has a very high recovery rate, and most people recover from the virus at home. With no problem. However, the elderly and immunocompromised are more susceptible to the virus, experience more severe symptoms and die from the virus.
Statewide, there have been 492 deaths.
The best news is that the Covid-19 recovery continues as a recovery rate. A total of 7,914 people in eastern Idaho have recovered from the virus and about 23,288 have recovered statewide.
To get a closer look at the numbers, visit the EastIdoNews.com Kovid-19 page.
EIPH regularly meets about COVID-19. These meetings include updates from health officials, hospitals and local leaders. See the latest meeting here.
EIPH also has a COVID-19 call center to answer questions. Call (208) 522-0310 or toll-free at 855-533-3160. The call center is open from Monday to Friday from 00:00 AM to 00:00 PM. In addition, questions can be submitted by email at [email protected] or through our Facebook page at @EIPH.Idaho Is.
