EIPH modifies COVID-19 Regional Response Plan
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IDAHO FALLS — A few changes were recently made to Eastern Idaho Public Health’s COVID-19 Regional Response Plan.
During a Board of Health meeting Thursday morning, modifications were made to the “high risk” level, also known as the orange-colored level of the plan. New language was added about outbreaks and the threshold metrics that determine when a county moves to the “high risk” has been changed.
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The new language explains that if the collective rate of active cases for the entire EIPH region is greater than 50 people for every 10,000 for a sustained three days period, then it could escalate the entire region — Bonneville, Madison, Jefferson, Fremont, Teton, Custer, Lemhi, and Clark counties — into the “high risk” level.
In the high-risk category, gatherings are limited to no more than 50 people, businesses would implement delivery/curbside services as much as possible and EIPH would recommend telework for those people who are able.
“If our entire district is reaching that level, a majority of those patients are going to be funneling into our Idaho Falls hospitals … because that’s where the ICU capacity is, is in Idaho Falls,” EIPH Director Geri Rackow said during the meeting. “We would need to take action across the board to slow things down, to maintain that hospital capacity.”
The plan says that Idaho’s current hospitalization rate is 4% of all positive cases. Based on the current rate, the plan explains how they’d anticipate 46 hospital admissions every 10 days (the infectious period for a confirmed case) in eastern Idaho. But additional admissions may result from nonresidents of EIPH’s district.
There was also new language included in the plan about moving a single county to the “high risk” level if the county exceeds the active case metric of 50 people for every 10,000. Previously, a county would move to high risk if the number of COVID-19 cases was more than 20 per 10,000 cases.
The metrics are based on total hospitalizations not only ICU bed occupancy. The changes were also decided on after consultation with local hospitals, they explained during the meeting.
“The primary goal of this plan is to maintain hospital capacity. It’s not just for COVID patients. It’s for all patients that need hospital care,” Rackow said during the meeting. “We’re doing these things to ensure that the spread of COVID is (at) a manageable level. That it’s not overwhelming our hospital all at one time.”
To listen to the meeting, click here.
For more COVID-19 news, click here.