Kootenai County, ID: Following the evening briefing of the Kootenai County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Unified Command, today’s report shows no new cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the Panhandle Health District. This means Kootenai County has not had a new case over the last four days. This keeps our current total at 45, with 42 in Kootenai County and three in Bonner County.
Additionally, 14 of the above mentioned cases are no longer being monitored. This is defined by the Panhandle Health District as a person who has stayed home for the recommended period of time and have not had a fever for at least 72 hours. Details on any new cases are posted and updated in real time on www.panhandlehealthdistrict.org/covid-19/.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation out there on social media. So for the most accurate and up-to-date information on COVID-19 please continue to follow the Kootenai County Office of Emergency Management’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/kootenaioem/.
Finally, here is a message from our Unified Commanders at the EOC. We hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful north Idaho spring weather! In fact, tomorrow is set to be the warmest day of the year! That said, your combination of social distancing and following Governor Little’s “stay-home” order is helping us to defeat the COVID-19 virus locally. Here in Kootenai County, we have seen four straight days of no new confirmed cases. However, letting our guard down now could undo all we’ve put ourselves through. While it will be tempting to join our friends and family for normal warm weather activities, we continue to stress following the CDC and Governor Little’s guidelines, which will help to end the spread of this dangerous illness. Everybody needs a little natural Vitamin D, please just do it responsibly and with the utmost precaution. As always we appreciate the incredible work that our First Responders, Healthcare Professionals and Volunteers are doing in response to COVID-19. As a community, we should be very proud of how they’ve responded and as a result we will see a better situation than similar communities across the country!
Unified Commanders,
Sheriff Ben Wolfinger
Chief Chris Way
Kootenai County Emergency Operations Center