KOOTENAI COUNTY, Idaho — North Idaho's major hospital continues to deal with an uptick in coronavirus patients after an announcement nearly two weeks ago that it was nearing capacity.
On Thursday, Kootenai Health reported its highest number of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 since the pandemic began. The hospital was treating 46 coronavirus patients as of Thursday morning and 14 of them required critical care.
This comes after Kootenai Health announced on Wednesday, Oct. 21 that it was 99% full. Panhandle Health's board voted on the same day to end the mask mandate for all of Kootenai County, but Coeur d'Alene enacted one of its own at an emergency city council meeting held on Monday, Oct. 26.
Kootenai Health's medical and surgical beds were 89% full as of Thursday, Nov. 5, according to spokesperson Andrea Nagel. On Friday, Nov. 6, Kootenai Health reported 45 COVID-19 patients, with 12 requiring critical care, on its website.
Kootenai, Boundary, and Shoshone counties in North Idaho remain in the Panhandle Health District's "red" or substantial risk category regarding potential spread of COVID-19.
Kootenai Health and Bonner General in Sandpoint are the only two hospitals with intensive care unit beds out of five counties that PHD serves. Katherine Hoyer with PHD said Kootenai Health has between 26 and 32 ICU beds, while Bonner General has four.
Kootenai Health is currently licensed for 330 hospital beds, 200 of which are designated as "medical/surgical," Nagel said. The remainder are used for labor and delivery, post-partum, behavioral health, chemical dependency and the hospital's NICU. The hospital's designated unit for COVID-19 patients has 32 rooms.
To help accommodate growing patient volumes, the hospital is transitioning a number of its rooms — for coronavirus patients and others — to double occupancy, Nagel said. This will help prepare the hospital for more patients and will only be used when necessary.
PHD reported 117 new COVID-19 cases and no new deaths in Idaho's five northern counties on Thursday, Nov. 5. There have been 6,152 cases in Idaho's five northern counties since the pandemic began and 340 people have been hospitalized.
Seventy-nine people have died from coronavirus in North Idaho. Fifty-two of those deaths are in Kootenai County, with 20 in Shoshone County, three in Bonner County, one in Boundary County and three in Benewah County.