In Kootenai Health’s published response in the Press Sunday, September 26th, the hospital claims the intent of Dr. Carroll’s meeting with Rotary and the corresponding article was “to provide everyone with as clear and up-to-date information as possible to help them make decisions about mitigations, such as vaccinations, masks, and updated social distancing.”
Unfortunately updated information is missing. Clear and up to date information should have included how many kids under age 18 have already had Covid. What is the actual vaccination rate among middle and high schoolers? The information from Dr. Carroll states a 15% vaccination rate but appears to be an assumption. How many kids have been hospitalized at Kootenai since the pandemic began? How many children have been transferred due to our lack of a PICU? How many kids have been hospitalized recently? Is it getting worse? What is the current rate of hospitalization among children under age 18?
34 patients under age 18 have been hospitalized during the pandemic. None have died. 3,587 cases among the same demographics (1%) including 401 confirmed cases in Sept and 80 suspected. 2,700 kids in Kootenai County have already been confirmed or suspected by PHD. Kootenai Health now includes pediatric covid inpatient numbers on the website with a current count of two.
Since we do not have a PICU in Kootenai Health, perhaps the Rotary presentation was intended to encourage members to open their checkbooks. Given that the hospital only required a numerical correction and did not comment on the tone, timing, nor title of the article it seems Mr. MacPhee’s harsh criticism may be warranted. Hopefully Kootenai Health and Dr. Carroll can provide us some useful up-to-date information rather than projections that fail to take into account local and current data.
