Spokane County has hit a mini-plateau when it comes to new Covid cases. County health officials reported 82 new cases on Wednesday, the fifth consecutive day in the eighties or less.
Health Officer Bob Lutz says the number of hospitalizations continues to inch up, with 63 active cases in Spokane on Wednesday, including 28 from outside the county.
“Yesterday [Tuesday] I was in conversation with health care partners and, between our four hospitals and Kootenai, there’s more than 90 patients currently hospitalized for Covid-19. That’s more than the Inland Northwest has seen since the start of the pandemic," he said.
Then you can add another five Covid patients combined in the hospitals in Newport and Colville in Washington.
Lutz says most of the people in the hospitals are older, the result of a new wave of infections.
“It may have been a significant elevation in those young individuals who may not necessarily have issues that would put them at higher risk for hospitalization. But they have parents, they have grandparents. They work. Unfortunately we’re seeing the next ripple of the pandemic affecting those older age groups," he said.
Idaho’s Panhandle Health District reported 55 new cases on Wednesday with 35 people hospitalized in the five northern counties.