Governor Brad Little said Friday, while COVID-19 metrics like case numbers and hospitalizations have improved recently, the state will remain in 'Stage 4' of its reopening plan.
Continued spread of COVID-19, primarily in Idaho's most populated counties, has prevented officials from moving the state beyond stage 4 since its first attempt June 27.
The governor said several metrics were improving.
“We're seeing downward trends in overall confirmed cases, tests, positivity rates and emergency department visits of patients with COVID-like illnesses,” Little said.
He added the state has sufficient ventilators, ICU beds and hospital PPE, and that the number of people admitted to hospitals is stabilizing.
“This demonstrates our efforts to preserve the health care capacity and slow the spread of coronavirus are all working,” he said.
The governor also said which metrics are most important to the state’s decision to move forward or not do change, quipping, “this is the novel coronavirus after all.”
“The numbers are getting better, but not near the rate that we would all like to see it,” he said.
Gov. Little spoke Friday at the Idaho Foodbank headquarters in Boise, where he also focused on a distribution of $2.56 million of federal CARES Act funding to the food bank’s efforts to feed people in need across the state.
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