UPDATE: March 16, 9:05 a.m.
We have moved all of our information about the confirmed cases of coronavirus in Idaho to this web post. Please navigate there to stay current — all information beneath this update is outdated.
UPDATE: March 14, 8:21 p.m.
The second Blaine County resident confirmed by South Central Public Health to have tested positive for COVID-19 is a woman over the age of 70. This brings the total of confirmed cases in the state to five. She is currently being hospitalized for her symptoms and is recovering. At this time, officials are still trying to determine how the patient contracted the virus.
UPDATE: March 14, 6:16 p.m.
A second case of COVID-19 has been confirmed in Ada County. Central District Health reports the patient is a male patient in his 50s and is believed to have contracted the virus through travel. He is recovering in his home and did not require hospitalization.
UPDATE: March 14, 6:11 p.m.
Officials from Eastern Idaho Public Health and Teton Valley Health announced Idaho's third confirmed case of coronavirus in Teton County in a press conference Saturday evening.
The patient is a woman under the age of 60 who was in close contact with a confirmed case in a neighboring state. Officials say she remains at home in good spirits with mild symptoms that did not require hospitalization.
After learning of her contact with a confirmed case, this patient contacted her health care provider to determine the necessity of a test. She presented to Teton Valley Health Thursday evening, when her sample was sent to the Idaho Bureau of Laboratories for testing. The positive result was delivered Saturday at 3 p.m.
During the press conference, officials said there is no indication of community spread of the illness as this time and the risk to Idahoans remains low. Public health staff will work to notify those who may have been at risk for exposure.
Original post from March 14 at 1:49 p.m.:
A second known Idaho resident has tested positive for coronavirus, said Melody Bowyer, the director of South Central Public Health District (SCPHD) during a press conference on Saturday.
The patient is a Blaine County resident in her 50s. Health officials said she is resting at home with mild symptoms and did not require hospitalization. Her symptoms were cough, shortness of breath of breath and fever, according to Logan Hudson, a public health division administrator for SCPHD.
The first confirmed case in Idaho was a woman from Ada County who had traveled to a conference in New York. Health officials said she is also recovering at home and did not require hospitalization.
The Blaine County resident saw a local provider, who sent a sample to the state public health lab on Thursday. The test was run Friday and SCPHD learned of the positive result Friday night.
The investigation into the Blaine County case started Friday evening.
So far, officials know the individual traveled to a neighboring state within a two-week time window before her symptoms began. At the time that neighboring state did not have a confirmed case of COVID-19, but it does now. Officials would not say which state she traveled to, citing privacy concerns.
“If we ever learn of a location here in Blaine County where people were at risk at some point, we will notify those people immediately,” said Hudson.
The woman followed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's guidelines by staying home and not going into work when she started feeling sick earlier this week. Hudson said because she followed the social distancing protocol, officials believe the risk to the public is the same as it was prior to learning of the positive test last night.
“We do not feel like any businesses and schools in the area have any more risk than they did before last night,” Hudson said.
Blaine County verbally announced a state of emergency in the county on Friday, the day Governor Brad Little made the same declaration for the state of Idaho. At Saturday’s press conference, the commissioners said they would formalize this announcement in writing on Tuesday.
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