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COVID Vaccines Coming to Wood River Valley Care Facilities
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While the vaccine is being rolled out Sun Valley residents and visitors are reminded to follow COVID precautions, such as holding gatherings outside like these skiers. Other precautions include physical distancing and wearing masks.
 
 
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Tuesday, December 29, 2020
 

STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

COVID GRAPHS BY PAUL RIES

Residents and staff at Cove at Cascadia in Bellevue have been told that they can expect to receive the COVID vaccine some time between Jan. 19 and 21.

The vaccination of about 10,200 residents and staff at 75 Idaho long-term care facilities was to begin this week. Good Samaritan Society-Boise Village will be the first long-term care facility in Boise to receive the vaccine on Tuesday. Walgreens pharmacists will administer 175 vaccines in partnership with Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

 
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Both Idaho and Blaine County have been doing better. Idaho has averaged 694 cases of coronavirus a day since Christmas for a total of 137,010 since the pandemic began. But 20 more Idahoans died of COVID on Monday, bringing the toll to 1,377.
 

There are 315 long-term care facilities in Idaho.

Residents and staff of long-term care facilities were chosen to be among the first Idahoans to be vaccinated, along with hospital staff and other health care workers by Idaho’s COVID Vaccine Committee.

More than 500 of the 1,350 Idaho residents who have lost their lives to COVID-19 have been long-term care facility residents. Facilities in places like Lewiston and the Treasure Valley were hit especially hard.

To date, 10,459 vaccine doses have been administered in Idaho.

 
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Blaine County has recorded just four new cases of coronavirus since Christmas Eve for 1,542 total.
 

COVID AND THE MEASLES

Measles, believe it or not, is the most contagious infection there is--even more transmissible than the novel coronavirus.

But the United States has seen very little outbreak of measles, except in areas where less than 90 percent of the people are vaccinated against measles.

The measles vaccine is about 98 percent effective, Dr. Tony Fauci told CNN Monday. Since the two COVID vaccines that have been authorized are 95 percent effective and COVID is slightly less transmissible than measles, Fauci guestimates we could probably reach herd immunity with a little bit less than 90 percent of the population  vaccinated against the coronavirus.

VACCINE PASSPORT?

Chances are you might need a vaccine passport to travel, attend concerts and football games, get into movie theaters and possibly some offices once vaccines become more prevalent. Several companies have already begun developing smartphone apps for individuals to upload details of their COVID-19 tests and vaccinations, creating digital credentials, according to CNN.

TREATS FOR COVID

Golden and Labrador retrievers suited out in green biodetector jackets with red crosses have been tasked with sniffing out passengers with COVID at Chile’s Santiago airport. And there’s no nose swabbing involved. Instead, passengers wipe their necks and wrists with gauze pads. Dogs sit when they smell the virus. And, yes, they get a treat every time they detect a case.

Dogs already had begun sniffing passengers at airports in Finland and the United Arab Emirates. A recent study found dogs can identify infected individuals with 85 percent to 100 percent accuracy and rule out infection with 92 percent to 99 percent accuracy, according to Reuters.

PULL THAT CORSET IN TO CROWD OUT COVID!

When the Spanish flu hit in 1918, it disproportionately sickened and killed the young and healthy—the opposite of COVID-19.

Students at the University of Idaho were encouraged to keep it at bay by avoiding crowds, keeping windows open even in freezing weather, sleeping with the heat off to freeze out the germs, chewing their food thoroughly and avoiding tight clothing, according to UI’s student magazine Blot.

AS YOU WAIT FOR THE COVID VACCINE, CONSIDER A FLU SHOT

A Netherlands study offers potential good news for those who have gotten a flu vaccine. The study, which has yet to be peer reviewed, showed that hospital workers who had been vaccinated had a 39 percent lower chance of catching the coronavirus by June 1 of this year than those who had not.

They believe the flu vaccine may boost the “first responders” of the immune system, helping them fight off a range of pathogens and diseases. Of course, it could also be that those who get flu vaccines are more likely to engage in healthy behaviors that lower their risk.

 

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