Despite a continuing outbreak at a Panhandle high school, K-12 coronavirus case numbers decreased slightly this week.
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare reported at least 79 K-12 cases for a seven-day period ending Sunday, compared to 95 cases the preceding week.
Despite the statewide decrease, Lake City High School in Coeur d’Alene reinstated a mask mandate, as case numbers continued to trend upward. “I think when I first heard they were removing the mask mandates, I felt like it was a train-wreck waiting to happen,” Coeur d’Alene parent Sharilyn Bean told KXLY TV in Spokane, Wash.
Here are the weekly hotspots, scattered across the state:
- Lake City High School: Seven cases.
- Kimberly High School: Five cases.
- Canfield Middle School, Coeur d’Alene: Three cases.
- Capital High School, Boise: Three cases.
- Garfield Elementary School, Boise: Three cases.
- Post Falls High School: Three cases.
- Vera C. O’Leary Middle School, Twin Falls: Three cases.
The weekly reports are a snapshot, and they’re incomplete.
Not every school reports its case numbers weekly. Health and Welfare does not release any case numbers from schools with fewer than 50 students, citing privacy concerns. In some cases, Health and Welfare provides only a minimum number of coronavirus cases for a school.
The highest case numbers for 2020-21, by school:
- Lake City High School: 177 cases.
- Thunder Ridge High School, Idaho Falls: 142 cases.
- Hillcrest High School, Ammon: 132 cases.
- Bonneville High School, Idaho Falls: 127 cases.
- Eagle High School: At least 121 cases.
- Coeur d’Alene High School: 114 cases.
- Rocky Mountain Middle School, Idaho Falls: 105 cases.
- Rocky Mountain High School, Meridian: 104 cases.
- Mountain View High School, Meridian: 102 cases.
- Meridian High School: 92 cases.
