Panhandle approves mask mandate across five counties
The Panhandle Health District voted Thursday afternoon for a district-wide mask mandate in the five northern-most counties in Idaho.
The mandate begins immediately and will remain in effect for 60 days, barring a future board vote to reverse the decision. Per Idaho code, failure to adhere to health board mandates is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail.
Kootenai County Sheriff Ben Wolfinger has said in the past that county-wide mandates could not be enforced by his office.
Kootenai and Boundary counties have all been in the substantial “Red” categories since Oct. 22. Shoshone County followed suit on Oct. 29. Bonner County was moved into the “Red” category Nov. 12, while Benewah County turned “Red” Thursday. The color designations indicate whether or not counties meet particular metrics to determine the risk of community spread. The “Red” category indicates a rolling seven-day average new case count greater than 30 per day, a testing positivity rate greater than 20 percent, hospital occupancy rate reaching 100 percent, or hospitals implementing crisis standards of care.
Andrea Nagel, communications coordinator for Kootenai Health, told the Coeur d’Alene Press the hospital hit a new high Thursday. As of 8 a.m., 49 COVID-19 patients are currently admitted, 14 of whom are considered critical. Nagel said 93 percent of Kootenai Health’s medical/surgical beds are currently full.
“Gentlemen," nurse and board member Jai Nelson told the board, “we need to start making deliberative decisions. Right now, the data is on a sharp increase: Infections, hospitalizations and deaths are increasing at a staggering rate.”
Kootenai County has been the focus of the Panhandle Health board as COVID-19 over the last four months has continued to climb, with the board implementing a mask mandate on July 23. That mandate was then rescinded Oct. 23, the same day that Kootenai Health announced it had reached 99 percent capacity as hospital leaders pleaded to continue the mask mandate.
At the time, Boundary County Commissioner Walt Kirby described immense political pressure from constituents that bordered on venomous as his reason to vote to rescind the mandate. Now, Kirby said getting inundated with threats and harassment — both after voting for the mandate and voting to rescind it — had him considering resignation from the board before he decided to simply finish out the year.
“I’ve got one month and six days,” he told the board. “You figure that one out. That’s all I’ve got. I think I’m going to go out with a splash, but I don’t know which way to go, exactly. So I think, in that case, I need to recuse myself. I just don’t want to hear any more crap from the world out there. I don’t want to be on the bad guy’s side or the good guy’s side in this thing, because I’m done with Panhandle Health.”
Thursday’s decision comes as COVID-19 cases continue to surge locally. A total of 4,169 new cases have emerged district-wide in the last five weeks, more than the 3,888 from the previous seven months combined.
“We need to make data-driven decisions,” Nelson said Thursday. “The data, the trends, are predicting a holiday surge in infection rate, further stressing our health care systems and our health care workers. The data trend line shows we are going to see an unprecedented surge of infections following Thanksgiving. And if people don’t learn from Thanksgiving, we’re going to see it again at Christmas, and again at New Year’s.”
Board members Dr. Allan Banks and Glen Bailey were the two dissenting “no” votes. Nelson, Shoshone County Commissioner Mike Fitzgerald, Richard McLandress, M.D. and chair Marlow Thompson all voted “yes.” Kirby abstained.
“We are facing a humanitarian crisis,” Nelson told the board, “and a health crisis not seen in the past 100 years. Gentlemen, it’s our job to provide leadership in a pandemic response. This is a test of our leadership.”
