Fall sports given the green light

As Idahoans identify the many impacts of COVID-19, the need increases for behavioral health support, food security, housing, and other services. The Division of Behavioral Health in the Department of Health and Welfare and in conjunction with the Idaho Office of Emergency Management is pleas…

On Monday morning the Teton County Board of Commissioners passed an emergency ordinance requiring face coverings in the unincorporated county. The action was in response to Eastern Idaho Public Health’s decision last Thursday to lift Teton County’s public health order limiting mass gathering…

Coronavirus tracking metrics that regional health officials use to levy social restrictions were flawed throughout July because of delays in test processing, according to data analysis and interviews by the Post Register this week. 

BOISE — A joint legislative committee may push for a special legislative session before Idaho schools reopen, which in some districts, could be in as little as two and a half weeks.

Eastern Idaho regional health officials on Thursday held off on tweaking or repealing its mask mandate and large event ban for Teton County, leaving the legal order in place while they tweak the regional pandemic response plan.

Clark County, the least populated county in Idaho, confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on Tuesday, winnowing down the number of counties that haven’t seen any COVID-19 cases to just two.

BOISE — July has not been a good month for Idaho on the coronavirus front, with two-thirds of all Idaho’s COVID-19 infections to date reported since July 1, and the month’s tally of deaths now surpassing April’s high, making July the deadliest month for the virus in Idaho, even before the mo…

BOISE — Gov. Brad Little announced last Thursday that Idaho will stay in Stage 4 of its reopening plan for at least another two weeks, and said he’s collaborating with public health district directors across the state to deal with the swelling COVID-19 pandemic.

Teton County is the first in eastern Idaho where masks are mandatory in public and large gatherings are barred across the county as of last Thursday, July 16.

A weekend surge of COVID-19 cases in eastern Idaho led regional health officials Tuesday to mandate masks in public and ban large events in Bonneville County, where the spike was most stark.

Teton County is the first in eastern Idaho where masks are mandatory in public and large gatherings are barred across the county.

Teton Valley Hospital throws support behind the mask order

Eastern Idaho Public Health's Board of Health on Tuesday organized plans to vote on an order to mandate face masks in Teton County. This on the heels of Teton County Commissioners tasking the emergency management department on Monday to draft its own mask requirement after the cities of Drig…

Eastern Idaho regional health officials on Thursday punted a decision to mandate masks until a later date, instead deciding they would soon vote to recommend face masks, which health officials already have been urging for months.

Hospital adjusts protocol for local businesses with COVID positive employees  

The school reopening plan heading to the State Board of Education on Thursday is built on the assumption that all districts can and will return to in-person classes this fall.

Driggs and Victor councils require masks in cities

Much of the Idaho Legislature will start to meet again soon to weigh some of the questions that have come up in relation to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Eastern Idaho State Fair board is looking to move ahead with this year’s fair, but the mayor of Blackfoot and Bingham County officials have expressed reservations about whether it is safe due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Idaho Falls City Council on Thursday will consider making face masks mandatory in public spaces, as a growing number of Idaho cities are doing as the state’s COVID-19 caseload soars, according to an agenda posted on the city website on Tuesday evening.

Teton Valley Health reported a eleventh case of COVID-19 in Teton County in a female in her 40s stemming from contact with another active case.

It’s clear that testing for COVID-19 in eastern Idaho has improved.

The City of Driggs Mayor Hyrum Johnson passed a “mayoral emergency” ordinance on Thursday July 2 requiring masks to be worn in public and in local businesses. Johnson told the Teton Valley News that the decision was made to “empower” local businesses.

With less than two days ahead of the Tetonia Fourth of July celebration, local and regional leadership have issued pointed caution in light of growing COVID-19 cases in Teton County.

BOISE — Idaho’s increase in COVID-19 cases is “alarming,” Gov. Brad Little said Tuesday, as he called on Idahoans to wear face masks, practice physical distancing, stay home when sick and take other measures to prevent spreading the virus.

Teton Valley Health CEO Keith Gnagey reported a fifth positive COVID-19 case Monday evening. The person is a local male in their 20s. The case is currently under investigation.

As Idaho officials continue with loose restrictions in response to growing COVID-19 cases in the state, regional health officials in eastern Idaho are eyeing a proposal that’s drawn ire from some: mandatory public mask-wearing.

NAMPA — Some delegates at the Republican state convention have taken a stand against their party’s governor and his coronavirus response, condemning his contact tracing program and calling on the Idaho Legislature to “protect our lives, liberty and property from the recent unchecked, unbalan…

Eastern Idaho Public Health reported a fourth case of COVID-19 in Teton County on Wednesday and today posted a probable case stemming from an existing case. This brings the total count of new cases to four, plus one probable case in the last week for the valley.

'We're tapping on the brakes'

So many Idaho workers lost jobs so quickly this year due to the coronavirus pandemic that an unemployment extended benefits program will go into effect that was last used during the Great Recession in 2009, the AP reports. According to the Idaho Department of Labor, the program will give people receiving weekly unemployment payments up to 13 weeks of additional... 

BOISE — Ruling from the bench this afternoon, a federal judge ordered the state to give Reclaim Idaho another chance to qualify its school-funding initiative for the November 2020 ballot.

BOISE — Fifteen House Republicans gathered in the House chamber on Tuesday morning, but despite calls from far-right groups, they didn’t take any votes or attempt to conduct any legislative business.

BOISE — Under the Idaho Constitution, only the governor can call a special session of the Legislature — but the Idaho Freedom Foundation and an unregistered political action committee are calling one for Tuesday morning aimed at overturning the governor’s executive orders on the coronavirus …

Two Idaho health experts say a recent spike in COVID-19 cases in neighboring states could translate into more cases in Idaho. And the trend spells trouble for regions such as southeastern Idaho, which have residents who sometimes work in a close neighboring state.

Last week, eastern and southeastern Idaho gained 52 cases of COVID-19, putting the total active cases in the area at 100.

Eastern Idaho Public Health reported a third case of COVID-19 in Teton County on Friday afternoon, June 19. This new case is related to the first reported case this week stemming from the West Side Yard in Victor said Eastern Idaho Public Health. The case is still under investigation.

New case unrelated to West Side Yard case, 16 are being monitored

BOISE — For the month of May, Idaho averaged 27 new COVID-19 cases per day, according to the Idaho Health & Welfare tallies posted each day on the state’s coronavirus website. In the first half of June, that’s jumped up to 40 per day.

Victor restaurant closes for cleaning and quarantines seven members of staff

Cases continue to climb in health district as state reopens

BOISE — Gov. Brad Little announced Thursday morning that Idaho will move into Stage 4 of its four-stage reopening plan from the coronavirus shutdown Saturday, saying the state “narrowly” met its criteria for the move.

With heavy hearts, Seniors West of the Tetons board and staff has made the decision to suspend in-door programming at the Senior Community Center at least until after Labor Day.

Battelle Energy Alliance is starting a grant program to help local small businesses, many of which have been hit hard by the shutdown and economic slowdown that have accompanied coronavirus.