79 COVID-19 cases tallied in Panhandle

SANDPOINT — Confirmed novel coronavirus within the Panhandle Health District increased to 79 on Wednesday.

Kootenai County has 66 cases, while Bonner and Benewah counties each have four cases. The health district said it’s investigating five additional cases on which it has limited information, including the residencies of the five infected people, according to health district spokeswoman Katherine Hoyer.

“For all cases of COVID-19, PHD epidemiologists will conduct contact tracing and close contacts will be contacted if they are potentially at risk,” Hoyer said in a news release.

Sixty-eight of the cases confirmed by the PHD are no longer being monitored. The virus has not been detected in Boundary or Shoshone counties as of Wednesday afternoon.

The Idaho Department of Health & Welfare reported 32 new confirmed or probable cases of the virus, lifting the statewide case total to 2,731.

The virus is attributed to 82 deaths in Idaho, according to Health & Welfare.

The Northeast Tri-County Health District in Washington state reported confirmed coronavirus cases stayed flat at 14. There are 10 in Stevens County, three in Pend Oreille County and one in Stevens County.

The state of Montana reported two new confirmed cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing the statewide total to 481 cases. There are seven cases in Lincoln County and none in Sanders County.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.