Idaho Gov. Little: ‘We have really flattened the curve’; stay-home order’s future undecided

Idaho Gov. Brad Little said Thursday night on his weekly coronavirus Q&A with Idaho Public Television that the state is making progress in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s not perfect, but we have really flattened the curve,” Little said. “… We believe that the good work that everybody in the state of Idaho is doing is starting to yield dividends, which is less people getting sick, and most importantly fewer people dying.”

Idaho’s curve of new cases peaked April 1-2 with 141 and 205 new cases reported those days, the Idaho Statesman reported.

Since then, the maximum was 114 on April 3 and the state hasn’t hit 100 since. The state reported 94 new cases Thursday.

Idaho’s death toll jumped to 24 on Thursday with the second straight day of five reported deaths. Some deaths are reported days after they happen, so it’s unclear when those deaths actually occurred or when those patients got sick.

Little’s stay-home order runs through the end of the day April 15. He said he’ll decide early next week what to do beyond that date, but he does expect some sort of action.

“We will not flip the switch and go back to what it was before,” Little said. “… There’s ample reason for us to maintain some of those best practices in place, and we’ll decide where we are on the scale as we look forward. So I guess what I’m taking out of this is yes, in some way, shape or form, there will be something still in play after that.”