COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — Kootenai Health is seeing a spike in COVID-19 patients, with almost double the amount of people needing care for the virus as compared to just a week ago, according to Kootenai Health officials.
As of Wednesday morning, 27 people were hospitalized at Kootenai Health because of COVID-19, with six of them needing critical care, according to Kootenai Health spokesperson Caiti Bobbitt. The current spike isn't as large as the one's seen late last year, which saw 90 or more COVID-19 patients at once, according to Kootenai Health Chief of Staff Dr. Robert Scoggins.
The spike is impacting a different demographic than normal, he said.
"We are seeing severely affected young people, which we hadn't seen as much," Scoggins said. "Previously, we had seen a lot of over 65 [year olds] in our ICU. Now, we're seeing anywhere between 20 [years old] and 65. We still have some nursing home patients, or some people that are over the 65 group, but it's been surprising on how many people [are] under 65."
Scoggins said that vaccine hesitancy is the biggest factor behind the spike, and that the surge began at about the same time Idaho was moved to Phase 4 of reopening by Governor Brad Little. He also said that the presence of COVID-19 variants that are more easily transmissible, such as the UK Variant, is contributing to the spike.
According to data from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, the Panhandle Health District, which includes the state's five northern counties, is lagging behind the national vaccination rate.
Nationally, about 56 percent of people aged 12 and older have gotten at least one shot, according to the IDHW. In the Panhandle Health District, that sits at just 36 percent. The same trend also appears in the rate of full vaccination. Nationally, a little more than 44 percent of those eligible had been fully vaccinated as of Wednesday. In North Idaho, that falls to 32 percent.
Scroggins and his staff have taken to teaching the public about COVID-19 vaccines to combat the spike.
"I think that we've done, we've tried to educate as much as possible," Scoggins said. "So I think that we've done better than if we had done nothing, but we've just got to continue to work on that and get people to feel comfortable with the vaccines and how they work and the outcomes. Their effectiveness is amazing."
Scoggins also recommends people use Idaho's vaccine finder website to register for appointments, as there is enough vaccine supply to meet current demand in North Idaho. He also said that most of the patients Kootenai Health has been treating lately know where they were infected, often contracting the virus at events and gatherings where multiple people will become infected with coronavirus.
Scoggins hopes the end of the spike will be sooner rather than later.
"Hopefully, from my view, I hope not very long," he said. "I don't want to see anymore COVID patients, but the way to do that is to to get people vaccinated."