STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Six months after COVID-19 was first detected in Blaine County, Camas County has confirmed community spread.
The county is the last of the eight counties in the region governed by south Central Public Health District to have at least one case confirming community spread.
That means at least one person has been infected with the virus and contact tracers have not been able to determine how or where they became infected. The individual has not traveled and has had no identifiable contact with another person with COVID-19.
Public Health officials expect more confirmed cases in Camas County and urge all residents to assume the virus could be anywhere in the community and surrounding counties.
Camas County, population 1,127, has had five confirmed cases of coronavirus and zero deaths.
Blaine County recorded four new cases on Monday bringing its total to 614.
The state of Idaho has had 365 new cases since Saturday bringing its total to 35,532. The stte also reported four new deaths four new deaths on Monday for a total of 419.
O CANADA
Canada recently reported no new deaths from COVID-19 for the first time since March 15, according to its public health agency. The country has lost 9,163 of its citizens to COVID.
FIRE SHUTS DOWN HIGHWAY NEAR STANLEY
The Leggit Fire five miles east of Atlanta exploded from 100 to 1,000 acres on Monday.
A fire near Stanley forced the closure of Highway 21 between Cape Horn Road and Grandjean Road on Monday. The Trap Fire nine miles northeast of Stanley was discovered Monday evening. It is 110 acres. Crews hope to have it contained by Wednesday evening and under control by 6 p.m. Friday.
The Grouse Fire near Pine grew slightly on Monday to 3,922 acres. It is 8 percent contained but gusty afternoon winds expect to make it problematic through the week.
The Woodhead Fire near Cambridge is nearly 50,000 acres and has burned homes and prompted evacuations. Another fairly large fire is the Badger Fire burning in the South Hills eight miles southeast of Magic Mountain Ski Area near Twin Falls. It is now 10,000 acres, double what it was Monday morning. A Type 3 Interagency Management Team begins tackling the fire today.
MAYBE STURGIS WASN’T SO BAD AFTER ALL
A San Diego State University study that purported that the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally could lead to 266,796 new cases of coronavirus is flawed, according to Dr. Ashish Jha of Brown University of Public Health and Dr. Rex Douglass director of the Machine Learning for Social Science Lab at the University of California-San Diego. That’s because it doesn’t include an epidemiological disease transmission model.
Jha said he wouldn’t be surprised if the event which attracted a half-million motorcyclists is a superspreading event. But not to the tune of 250,000 cases.
A NASAL VACCINE?
British scientists are studying how a coronavirus vaccine might work if inhaled, rather than injected into a muscle. Participants are inhaling the droplets in their mouths, which targets their respiratory systems directly, according to the Associated Press.
A CROWD WITH A PURPOSE
Germans crowded into an indoor concert not in defiance of anti-coronavirus measures but to test them. They were given respiratory face masks, fluorescent hand gel to determine what they touched and electronic contact trackers that determined distances between concertgoers.
Researchers will use the data they collect to find ways to bring sports and other big events back safely.
NO BELLS ON TEMPLE SQUARE
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir has cancelled its popular Christmas concert due to the pandemic.
FREQUENT FLIERS MAY BE SAFER THAN FIRST THOUGHT
The chances of catching the coronavirus on a plane are actually relatively slim, scientists now say. In one case, 328 passengers and crew members were tested for COVID after authorities learned a March 31 flight from the United States to Taiwan had carried 12 passengers who were symptomatic. All tested negative, according to an article in CNN reporting on a study in the medical journal JAMA Network Open.
A SILVER BULLET?
SalivaDirect, developed by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health, is more comfortable to use than a nasal swab. And it doesn’t use chemical reagents or swabs that have been in short supply.
It could be used at universities and other places that can benefit from frequent testing to reduce the frequency of testing. The University of Illinois, for instance, has retrofitted its veterinarian laboratory to handle screening at 40 testing stations across the campus. The self-administered tests yield results within five hours.
Now Northwest Nazarene College in Nampa is trying it out, as well.
A NEW LOOK AT CONCERTS
Want to go to a concert? Check out concerts British style.
One, for instance, featured 2,500 fans grouped in small pods of five or less on raised metal platforms six feet apart. They pre-ordered food and drinks on their phones and were not allowed to leave their seats except to go to restrooms, which were stationed at the end of every row.