STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
GRAPHS BY PAUL RIES
Idaho is the third least responsible state of America’s 50 in attempting to control the coronavirus.
It’s exceeded only by South Carolina, which is No. 1, and Kansas, which is No. 2.
That’s what a new study titled The Most & Least Responsible State during COVID-19 says. The study was created by TheTruthAboutInsurance.com and is based on such data as the number of COVID tests performed, the percentage of citizens sheltering in place and how many adults wear masks in public.
The survey notes that fewer than a third of Idaho adults wear masks in public, according to YouGov. Idaho’s testing rate is 4.4 percent, according to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. And fewer than a quarter stay home when possible, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
“Whenever possible, sheltering in place is the most effective form of coronavirus prevention,” the study noted. “When venturing out in public, we know that masks are 100 percent ineffective if they are not worn.”
The most responsible states? New York, New Jersey and the District of Columbia, although the Capitol city is not technically a state.
They’re followed by Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Alaska, California, Connecticut, Nevada and Illinois.
New York, for instance, has 53 percent of its citizens wearing masks and 30.1 percent sheltering in place. It ranks first among states in testing with 18,176 tests per 100,000 people compared with Idaho’s 4,437 tests per 100,000 people.
Joining Idaho is the least responsible category is Ohio, Indiana, Alabama, South Dakota, Missouri, Kentucky and Oklahoma.
THE WEEKEND TALLY
The state recorded 571 new cases on Sunday after recording 550 new cases on Saturday. The thousand-plus cases bring the state’s total to 14,873.
Of course, the actual number of infections is likely 10 times the number of reported cases, according to Centers for Disease Control Director Robert Redfield.
So that means 148,730 Idahoans may have been infected in the past four months.
Blaine County gained one new case on Saturday and no new cases on Sunday for a total of 556.
Ada County has an unfathomable 5,900 cases; Canyon County, 3,163, and Kootenai where Coeur d’Alene is located, 1,048. Twin Falls County has 927.