BOISE, Idaho — Some of Idaho and eastern Oregon’s largest health care organizations held a virtual round table Tuesday to talk COVID-19, kids returning to school and the protests at the Statehouse.

The discussion came as Idaho’s coronavirus positivity rate stands at 10%.

Representatives from St. Luke’s, Saint Alphonsus, West Valley Medical Center, Primary Health, Saltzer Health and Valor health were all on the call. 

President and CEO of St. Luke’s Health System, Chris Roth, said because of the community’s increased efforts following the three w’s – washing hands, wearing a mask and watching distance – the hospital has seen a 50% decrease in hospitalizations since mid-July. 

Saint Alphonsus has also seen a decrease in overall hospitalizations, but they are seeing more patients in critical care, according to President and CEO Odette Bolano. She added that there are currently 19 patients in the hospital’s ICU, and 13 of them are younger than age 50. 

Another big topic of discussion was about kids returning to school.

“We agree, children need to be in school, however, we remain very concerned and that concern stems from the positivity rate which is still high for Ada and Canyon County,”  Primary Health Medical Group CEO David Peterman said. “Data [also] that shows the positivity rate is still high for school-aged children.”

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Primary Health has done about 40- to 50% of all the coronavirus testing in Ada and Canyon counties and the positivity rate, when it comes to school-aged children, is about 10%, according to Peterman. 

St. Luke’s reports an 80% increase in pediatric cases of COVID-19 before schools began opening in recent weeks. Since then, they are now seeing more children at its testing sites, said St. Luke’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Jim Souza. 

Tuesday’s round table also included thoughts on Monday’s protests at the Statehouse and the lack of masks and social distancing. One doctor called it “appalling and irresponsible,” while another said it’s telling of what schools are facing. 

At a hearing during the legislative special session on Tuesday, one representative claimed hospitals are inflating their COVID-19 numbers to get money. KTVB asked the hospitals about that claim. 

“I can tell you that across the country and here at Saint Alphonsus that the patients that are coming in with COVID and end up in our ICU, we are not making money on those patients, we are actually losing money on those patients,” Bolano said. “So are there bad actors in a country with 6,100 hospitals? Maybe.”

She added that hospitals are also often audited and she has not heard of any kind of number inflation happening in the Saint Al’s health system. 

Roth echoed the sentiment but added, “many of us have spent a lot of our time addressing or trying to correct various conspiracy theories or frankly, blatant lies or misrepresentations that have been put out there. To suggest that hospitals are inflating numbers, it’s pretty disappointing.” 

As for schools, many of the health care professionals said they’ve looked at or answered questions from school boards about the fall school plans and for the most part, they’re well-conceived, but the key to success will be how they are executed.

“Don’t look at our recent trends in numbers and think that we are winning, look at our recent trends in numbers and conclude that it’s working,” Souza said.

Facts not fear: More on coronavirus

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