The Pullman Police Department issued five infractions during the weekend after responding to reports of parties where COVID-19 rules were not being followed.
Cmdr. Jake Opgenorth said Monday that four of those parties, including one with approximately 35 people, occurred on College Hill.
The department announced last week that it would hand out infractions immediately when responding to parties or large gatherings where people are not wearing masks, social distancing or following the 10-person limit set by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.
Opgenorth said police received 18 complaints of Washington’s COVID-19 restrictions being violated during the weekend.
Pullman has been the center of a rise in COVID-19 cases. On Monday, Whitman County received 24 new positive COVID-19 test results, pushing this year’s total to 509. Nine new positive test results were reported since Saturday in Latah County. There have been no COVID-19-related deaths in either county.
Moscow Police Department Capt. Will Krasselt said Monday morning no citations have been issued, to his knowledge, for alleged face mask order violations. He said officers have issued several written warnings.
Moscow police responded to eight reports Friday through Sunday of party attendees, business employees or others who were either not wearing face masks, not social distancing or refusing to isolate after they had possibly been exposed to the virus, according to the Moscow police daily activity log.
Krasselt said police are continuing an education-first approach to these violations. He said they will issue warnings, and if people continue to ignore those warnings they will receive a citation.
Whitman County’s newest COVID-19 patients include nine people under the age of 20 and 15 people between ages 20-39. All are stable and self-isolating.
According to the Whitman County Health Department, 65 percent of all cases in Whitman County are people in the 20-39 age group.
In Latah County, the newest patients include five people in their 20s, two in their 30s, one in their 40s and one in their 50s. There have been 232 confirmed cases total in the county this year.
In August alone, Whitman County has seen 421 new cases, while Latah County has seen 161 new cases.
The University of Idaho reported Monday 24 positive COVID-19 tests between Aug. 22 and Friday.
It tested 2,321 UI employees and students during the one-week period, which equates to a 1.03 percent positive testing rate.
For more information, visit www.uidaho.edu/vandal-health-clinic/coronavirus.
A wastewater epidemiology company now estimates 4,000 cases of COVID-19 in Moscow based on samples collected at the city’s Water Reclamation and Reuse Facility.
The sample was collected Aug. 20 and reported Aug. 25, according to a city news release.
Moscow has participated in a nationwide wastewater testing program with Biobot Analytics since May to monitor the presence of the coronavirus in wastewater. Wastewater testing identifies, replicates and measures viral ribonucleic acid in a given wastewater sample.
Reports for the first three tests conducted in May resulted in no detectable cases of COVID-19. Since that time, tests have resulted in 190 estimated cases based on samples collected May 27; 1,400 estimated cases based on samples collected July 1; and 1,800 estimated cases based on samples collected July 13.
"Due to the significant uncertainty of case estimation based upon virus loading in wastewater, we are far more interested in the concentration of the virus in the samples and the trends for concentration, than we are in the Biobot estimated case numbers," Tyler Palmer, deputy city supervisor of public works and services, said in the city news release.
In addition to the Biobot testing, the city is cooperating with the University of Idaho as it initiates a wastewater testing program. University staff are reviewing Biobot’s findings and comparing them with their results.
The rise in cases locally has not yet led to a rise in COVID-19 patients being treated at Pullman Regional Hospital.
PRH CEO Scott Adams said the hospital has cared for two COVID-19 patients this year. He said people who have tested positive so far have been isolating themselves effectively.
He said PRH has a sufficient level of personal protective equipment in case of more hospitalizations, and staff continue to train for isolation practices.
Adams said the hospital has two rooms with full functioning ventilators for serious COVID-19 cases. The hospital could care for approximately five moderately ill coronavirus patients, he said.
If there is a high number of people needing to be hospitalized, Adams said PRH can coordinate with the state to send patients to other hospitals.
Anthony Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.
