Boundary County notes COVID-19 cases

BONNERS FERRY — Two Bonners Ferry High School students tested positive for COVID-19 last week, according to Boundary County School District officials.

Both students were in contact with staff and other students last Thursday. The students were asked to stay home and self-isolate and ave taken proper precautions to prevent spread.

The BCSD is working with Panhandle Health District and is conducting contact tracing for those students who had close contact with the high school students who have tested positive.

Following the positive tests, all district schools were closed for continued contact tracing, deep cleaning efforts, and air quality issues as one of the preventative measures are increasing ventilation.

“This is difficult news and impacts all who are part of the community," BCSD Superintendent Jan Bayer told the Bonners Ferry Herald. "While we are not able to share personally-identifiable information, we care about keeping our community informed."

Bayer said the district was notified Sunday by a parent that a student at Bonners Ferry High School had a positive COVID-19 test. At that point, it had been two days since the student had last been in contact with staff and other students.

Monday, the district was notified that a second student at the high school had tested positive and said that it had been four days at that point since the student had been in contact with staff or other students.

The safety and well-being of its students and staff is the district's top priority, Bayer said. Toward that end, BCSD is working closely with Panhandle Health officials on notifying those who had close contact with the student and will be calling those individuals and/or their guardians.

In the past week, Boundary County has seen an additional 9 cases, with 54 since the start of the pandemic — four of the new cases were reported Wednesday. Thirteen of the county's cases are considered active.

On Wednesday, Panhandle Health District reported that the five northern counties added 40 cases, with a total of 3,053 cases with 53 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

Bonner County has 35 active cases, with a total of 279 cases since the start of the pandemic. PHD officials reported the county had an additional six cases on Wednesday.

Kootenai County added 15 new cases on Wednesday, with a total of 2,381 cases since the start of the pandemic. PHD officials said 192 of the county's cases are considered active.

Shoshone County added no new cases Wednesday, keeping its total at 209 cases since the start of the pandemic. The district said 18 of those cases remain active. Benewah County added six new cases Wednesday, with 30 cases since the start of the pandemic, 21 of which are active, PHD said.

The health district said 2,774 cases are considered closed, meaning those residents are no longer being monitored, have refused monitoring or have died.

The Idaho Department of Health & Welfare reported 283 new confirmed or probable infections, elevating the statewide total to 36,093 cases resulting in 429 deaths.

The Northeast Tri-County Health District in Washington state said the health district reported one new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, the most recent date for which data is available. The new case was reported in Pend Oreille County.

Pend Oreille County has had 58 confirmed cases with two cases in the last 14 days. Stevens County has had 134, with eight cases reported in the past 14 days with one death since the start of the pandemic. Ferry County has has 29 cases, with four in the last 14 days.

The Montana Department of Public Health reported 190 new confirmed cases on Wednesday, bringing the statewide total to 9,431 cases, 141 of which resulted in fatalities.

Lincoln County has had 105 cases since the outbreak began, with 14 of them considered active. The county has had three deaths since the start of the pandemic. The state said Sanders County has had 42 cases over the course of the pandemic, although only two of them are active. The county has had one death connected to COVID-19, Montana public health officials said.

Caroline Lobsinger can be reached at clobsinger@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @CarolDailyBee.