Thursday brought another big day in new Covid cases, both in Spokane and north Idaho.
The Spokane Regional Health District reported 414 new cases of coronavirus. It’s the second-highest one-day total and a continued escalation of the surge in the region over the last two weeks.
The health district reported five new deaths from the virus, but only one new hospitalization. That, however, comes after consecutive days of 11, 9, 11, 9 and 10 new admissions. Ninety Spokane County residents are now admitted for Covid, 120 total.
North Idaho hospitals have 62 more people with Covid under their care. The Panhandle Health District reported 189 new cases on Thursday. Ninety-seven people have died from the coronavirus in north Idaho, 90 of those were 70 or older.
The surge is also touching the rural counties of northeast Washington. There were 17 new cases reported Thursday in the three counties, including 15 in Stevens County. 216 cases have been reported in those counties during the last two weeks.
In Whitman County, there were 26 new cases, all but two 39 and younger, which is a positive given that previous outbreaks involving older residents are apparently under control.