STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

Sue Bridgman, like others, closed down her shop as a stay-home order was invoked to stop the spread of coronavirus in Sun Valley.

But she’s still a firm believer that flowers are essential for mental health.

So, she’s set up buckets of “Comfort Bouquets” in front her floral shop on Warm Springs Road across from Grumpy’s. The flowers are accompanied by an honor bucket in which people can deposit $20.

“I just figure everybody needs a little cheering up and a happy house,” she said. “It provides some color as the valley is emerging from winter. And it will help keep flower growers going.

FACEMASKS CATCH ON:

5Bee Sewing Revolution—a group of quilters and seamstresses sewing cotton facemask for non-health workers--delivered their first hundred masks to Bellevue’s Cove assistant living facility over the weekend, just as the Centers for Disease control began recommending that all Americans wear facemasks when outside.

As Wood River Valley residents scrambled to get facemasks online, they learned that it would be May before they could get them delivered.

5Bee’s Barbara Knowles says 5Bee’s original goal was to donate masks to those most in need through such organizations as The Senior Connection and Hospice of the Wood River Valley. But she is getting requests from people who want to purchase masks. She said she will huddle with her group of mask makers to figure out their next step.

“(Selling masks) was not our original goal, but I empathize with everyone, as it turns out all of us in the valley are in greatest need at this time,” she said.

GOT GOGGLES? DOCS WANT THEM:

Dr. Brock Bemis, who works in the Emergency Department at St. Luke’s Wood River, is requesting at least   goggles for himself and his fellow workers.

Goggles should be in decent condition—light lens preferred but not required. They need to be sanitized and placed in a Ziploc bag.

Stacy Erlinger is scrambling to pull together 98 goggles. People can drop them off in a basket on her lawn at 159 Belmont Drive in Warm Springs (right past Wanderer’s Way) or in a basket in front of the Brass Ranch at River Run.

THE PEAK:

Idaho's confirmed cases climbed to 1,105 on Sunday from 1,080 the day before. That's the lowest number of cases in a single day since March 24.The numbers reflect many who have recovered, including some who were considered critical at one time. Blaine County reported 410.

The need for hospital resources in Idaho is expected to peak on April 26, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.  Nationally, it shows the need for hospital resources will peak on April 16.

That said, Idaho’s peak is expected to come between the middle and end of May, according to Elke Shaw-Tulloch, administrator of the Idaho Division of Public Health.

Nearly 400 nurses have received temporary licenses enabling them to help fight COVID-19. Idaho hospitals aren’t begging for nurses like New York City, which has pleaded for health care workers to come to New York from throughout the country. But it’s insurance for the surge when it does occur.

OUR OWN PRIVATE IDAHO

Idaho Fish and Game has temporarily suspended nonresident fishing and hunting licenses and tags.

IN OTHER NEWS:

• President George W. Bush began insisting that his staff prepare for a pandemic in 2005 after reading a book about the Spanish influenza, according to a story by ABC News. Bush said that if you wait for a pandemic, it’s too late.

  Noting that pandemics happen every hundred years, he said: “A pandemic is a lot like a forest fire. If caught early, it might be extinguished with limited damage. If allowed to smolder, undetected, it can grow to an inferno that can spread quickly beyond our ability to control it.”

• Taiwan has fewer than 400 cases. Officials say its people responded more quickly because they were among the worst-hit countries during the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak of 2003. They also have a world-class health care system with universal coverage, according to CNN, that moved quickly to implement a list of 124 action items while other countries were still debating whether to take action.
• South Korea, which is slowly opening up again, is considering an everyday distancing practice that could involve half of students in class while the others remain online. Lunch tables might be arranged, as well so students sit in a zig-zag rather than next to one another.
• The state of Oregon is loaning New York City 140 ventilators after hearing Gov. Cuomo’s plea for a national response that would move ventilators across the country as they are needed.
• A Good Samaritan in Detroit bought gas for more than 50 nurses in hard-hit Michigan over two days.