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DHW Voice 
Is it possible to inform the public of how many new people are hospitalized daily with COVID, how many total people are hospitalized in Idaho with COVID-19 (daily) and how many are currently on a ventilator? Thank you.
Thank you for your comment. We understand the need for data during the pandemic, and we are working on ways to provide additional data while maintaining its integrity. The data provided at coronavirus.idaho.gov is what we can accurately offer at this time with the resources we have available.
If wearing a mask has been proven to reduce the spread of covid, why has Idaho not instituted a mask wearing mandate for indoor public spaces? How is it ethical to pay people to return to work when there are no safety requirements in the workplace? I think most people are interested in protecting health care workers and essential workers but the state and federal governments are dragging their feet on this issue. The pandemic cannot be hoped and prayed away. It is clear that other countries have not failed as horribly as the United States. Was nothing learned even after the disaster in the Bronx and also here in Blaine County?
As we begin to understand that transmission is not happening in schools, why are school districts still encouraged to implement close contact rules? Clearly, education is negatively affected by absenteeism.
I work in residential habilitation working with adults with developmental disabilities and we are essential workers. If we have someone that thinks they may have COVID they call the hotline and are told to isolate for 14 days. Is there a way that it can be explained to people on the phones that not everyone can isolate. We are already at a braking point with caregivers in Idaho and especially in North Idaho. I understand we have to stop the spread and I ask all my staff to take all precautions available. How do we protect our vulnerable populations without caregivers?
Thank you for your comment. Many community providers are challenged by staffing issues. Although solutions have not yet been identified for the staffing shortage, the Department of Health and Welfare continues to search for ways to support Idaho’s health care entities with their staffing needs.
You could follow the MASK+ protocol. The is nothing at all to lose.
https://covid19criticalcare.com/
From the latest news article 13, 650 vaccine doses in Idaho are being withheld for the second shot. I also seems the current federal administration is withholding half of the supply of vaccine in reserve for second shots. Is the second shot event being doubly allocated vaccine by the state and the feds?
Thanks
We received the first 13,650 2nd doses of Pfizer this week. These are the 2nd doses the federal government held back for the people who received their 1st dose from the shipment we received the week of December 14.
Unless the data is wrong, today 1/27 there are in Idaho, approximately 81,000 shots sitting on the shelf. Why are these not being given to people in Idaho? My data comes from:
1. https://coronavirus.idaho.gov/ Total doses administered
2. https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/?srnd=coronavirus % of Supply Used
AND looking at percentage of shots given:
ND has given 94% of shots received
MT has given 65% of shots given
ID has given 53% of shots given Something is not right yet.
We gotta many more people fully immunized before the SA & Brazil variants get here!
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations
Here it is 2/5/2021 and things haven’t changed much.
According to CDC Idaho has received 262,275 doses and has administered 141,897.
That leaves 120,378 doses sitting on the shelf somewhere.
WHY are almost half of the doses not being given? Who is sitting with them spoiling. Perhaps they have already spoiled.
I know Idaho prides itself as being like the US was 100 years ago, but this is ridiculous. Nobody here seems to care!
I have another question. My understanding is–IF you had COVID19 you are immune to further infections of it for at least 6 months–some believe for a much longer time. It is recommended that folks who have been infected with COVID19 get vaccinated. I certainly agree with that–but why vaccinate them BEFORE others who are more susceptible to a serious outcome. Today we have almost 162k confirmed an probable cases in ID–that probably should wait to get the vaccine. I see no mention of this on the guidelines, or any discussion. What is the thinking about this at DHW?
This is addressed in the FAQ posted on the vaccine page at coronavirus.idaho.gov: People who have gotten sick with COVID-19 may still benefit from getting vaccinated but may want to consider waiting to allow others to get vaccinated first. https://coronavirus.idaho.gov/covid-19-vaccine/
Thanks for the reply–Yes I saw that, but there is no “recommendation” from you to “wait”. “may want to consider waiting” is pretty weak wording when we anticipate what is coming our way in March SA & Brazil strains, not to mention B117 (UK) is already here. Gotta get those jabs going so folks are 2-3 weeks after their 2nd shot at mid March.162,000 doses could go a long way.
Posted yesterday–if it matters to DHW.
Click to access 2021.01.30.21250843v1.full.pdf
Bottom line: Given the above findings that one dose of vaccine can elicit a recall response, what we currently know about the duration of protective and memory responses, and until correlated of protection are identified, we think that in times of vaccine shortage, our findings preliminarily suggest the following strategy as more evidence-based: a) a single dose of vaccine for patients already having had laboratory-confirmed COVID-19; and b) patients who have had laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 can be placed lower on the vaccination priority list.