From today’s Moscow-Pullman Daily News:
Councilor Art Bettge asked Carol Moehrle, Public Health – Idaho North Central District director, at Tuesday’s meeting how “significant” increases in cases will be judged and if they will be judged regionally or statewide.
“Significant is a troublesome word because a one-person increase in Latah County would be 20 percent (as of Tuesday afternoon),” Bettge said. “A one-person increase in Nez Perce (County) would be less than 2 percent.”
He also said an impediment to rolling out Little’s four stages on time is the availability of testing, so he asked what the plans are for enhancing the number of tests the area can provide.
As I said before, testing has nothing to do with it.
“We have several words that are really not measurable so I’ve been asking that same question,” Moehrle said.
She said another word in the plan is “robust testing.”
“Do we have robust testing that is out there?” Moehrle said.
She said health officials are discussing what “robust” and “significant” mean and if they should be measured locally or statewide.
Moehrle said local agencies are prioritizing testing to those who are symptomatic and giving priority to certain groups, such as first responders.
Councilor Maureen Laflin said she was concerned that after businesses reopen, they might refuse to close again if, for example, there is a spike in cases after reopening.