Rise in COVID-19 cases now showing up in Lewiston schools

The Lewiston School District has noted a significant uptick in the number of positive COVID-19 infections among students and staff since the start of classes following the holiday break.

The spike was not a surprise, Superintendent Lance Hansen said Wednesday.

“We have noticed an increase in the number of positive cases reported to us, in alignment with what we expected,” Hansen said.

As of Wednesday, the school district this week has reported 31 cases among students and 10 cases affecting staff members.

Hansen said his office makes contact with all the families of students who have been reported COVID-19 positive to track when the symptoms were first diagnosed and gauge when the student will be allowed to return to class, in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

Most of the infections, Hansen said, appear to have been contracted during the holiday break. Students are required to quarantine for at least five days before being allowed back at school.

Currently there have been no changes in protocol regarding safety guidelines and no cancellations or postponements in schedule that would affect extracurricular or other activities, the superintendent added.

Since the beginning of the year, the Lewiston School District has encouraged good hygiene, made masks available for those who choose to wear them — but did not mandate face coverings — and tried to incorporate social distancing of at least 3 feet between students when possible.

That last attempt of keeping students a set distance apart, Hansen admitted, has proven difficult to control.

“It’s not always possible and it doesn’t create the best learning environment,” he said. “Looking at room configuration, we keep that in mind, but when it comes to delivering instruction, we have not always been able to keep 3 feet apart all the time. However, that’s our goal.”

Hansen said the school district does not do testing on students for COVID-19 positivity but it has made some tests available for families to administer at home under the guidance of a physician via Zoom.

As far as reports of the severity of cases, Hansen said he is not aware of any students who have been infected with the coronavirus who were severely ill or required hospitalization.

“I’m hearing that the symptoms are mild,” Hansen said. “More like cold symptoms.”

As COVID-19 cases surge in the region, hospitals in the area are dealing with staffing issues.

Samantha Skinner, spokeswoman for St. Joseph Regional Medical Center, said Wednesday that although the Lewiston hospital is feeling the effects of the recent uptick in cases, “we have adequate staff and resources to meet current inpatient needs and safely care for our patients at this time.”

Skinner said staffing continues to be a challenge for the hospital and it is actively recruiting for direct patient care and nonclinical roles.

Skinner said recently there has been an influx of patients who do not have any symptoms of COVID-19 showing up at the emergency room requesting to be tested.

“We want our community to know that our emergency department does not conduct routine COVID-19 testing for those who are not showing symptoms,” Skinner said.

Community members are encouraged to seek medical care as needed and the hospital has stringent health and safety protocols in place for those who enter the facilities.

On Wednesday, Tri-State Memorial Hospital reported 15 employees COVID-19 positive, with six pending testing and seven others out of work because of exposure to the coronavirus.

“We have been short-staffed at times but the reasoning varies,” said Rebecca Mann, spokeswoman for the hospital. “What we are seeing is that we have an increase in acute patient load due to people delaying care during the pandemic. Those patients take more staff to care for, which in turn can put strain on the hospital system. This is why Tri-State encourages our community not to delay care and to take preventive measures to keep ... healthy.”

Mann reported that the hospital is keeping up with the needs of supplies for the hospital. But “it is difficult right now to get supplies due to shipment delays. But we have an amazing purchasing and materials management staff that work(s) continuously to ensure that we have the supplies that we need on hand.”

Abner King, chief executive officer of Syringa General Hospital in Grangeville, said his hospital has not yet seen a significant surge in patients being admitted. The staff, however, is “seeing a surge in COVID testing and our positivity rate is up to 35% over the last two weeks. Rapid antigen tests for COVID-19 are definitely in short supply. We are also seeing isolated sporadic supply chain issues such as a particular testing cup for a lab analyzer.”

King added that Syringa has had 17 employees out sick because of COVID-19 or other illnesses over the past two weeks.

“If this trend continues,” King said, “it will strain our ability to care for an increasing number of patients.”

Lenne Bonner, CEO of St. Mary’s Health in Cottonwood and Clearwater Valley Health in Orofino, said so far her hospitals are not running out of beds for patients.

“But we are definitely short on health care workers,” Bonner said. “Mostly nurses and (certified nursing assistants). We also are experiencing significant difficulty getting patients transferred to higher level(s) of care again, forcing us to keep patients we wouldn’t normally care for.”

Public Health – Idaho North Central District reported Wednesday one COVID-19 death — a Nez Perce County man in his 80s — and 195 new infections. Those include six in Lewis County, 19 in Clearwater County, 12 in Idaho County, 58 in Latah County and 100 in Nez Perce County.

Asotin and Whitman counties added 45 and 43 new cases respectively and Garfield County reported no increase.

Tara Macke, spokeswoman for Public Health – Idaho North Central District, said the current surge is COVID-19 cases is likely related to the omicron variant.

“With the availability of home tests in conjunction with traditional testing sites,” Macke said, “there appears to be only minor delays in the ability to find a testing resource.”

Testing may require people to make an appointment with a health care facility, longer waits for an official result or calling around to find home test kits.

“Of course, as the demand for these resources continues, that trend could change and testing resources may become more scarce,” Macke said.

According to Brian Ellison, manager of the city of Lewiston’s Wastewater Utility Management, the latest test of wastewater in the city showed that the omicron variant was 88% of the latest sample.

The variant has yet to be detected in a specific virus case in the region, but not all samples are tested for omicron, and the process can take two weeks to be completed. Area health officials have said the variant is probably already here.

The Washington State Department of Corrections has temporarily suspended all prison visitation, the department announced in a news release. This is because of the current increase of COVID-19 cases across the state with 18 prison and work release sites having outbreaks. The decision was made to assure the health and safety of prison staff and inmates.

Hedberg may be contacted at khedberg@lmtribune.com.