Officials give brighter COVID-19 outlook

Pullman Police Department Chief Gary Jenkins said during the monthly Whitman County Health Network meeting Wednesday the number of infractions the police have handed out for parties has decreased every week since the department started enforcing large gatherings.

Jenkins said the police issued only one infraction this past weekend for mask and social distancing violations. Jenkins acknowledged that some parties are being held out of the view of the public, but said police still think there are less parties overall.

Also at Wednesday’s meeting, Whitman County Public Health Director Troy Henderson said he expects a decrease in COVID-19 viral activity in Pullman, echoing what he told the Whitman County commissioners Monday.

Henderson told the Daily News before the meeting he believes on any given day or week, Washington State University students taking courses online are leaving the city and choosing not to return to Pullman. He said he lives a block from the university and often sees students packing their cars and departing.

Henderson also said there is some level of acquired immunity within the 18-25-year-old demographic in Pullman that have recovered from COVID-19. However, he told the Daily News there is still a large number of people susceptible to the virus.

Henderson said the number of positive COVID-19 tests announced today and Friday will give a clearer picture of the viral activity in the area.

He also hopes to update the Whitman County Health Department’s guidance for schools in rural Whitman County today to support more in-person learning. It will not include Pullman.

New cases

Thirteen new cases of COVID-19 were reported on the Palouse Wednesday, including four in Whitman County, Which brings the county’s total to 1,184.

The four new patients include one person under 20 years old and one man and two women between the ages of 20 and 39.

One person who was previously reported positive for COVID-19 is still hospitalized. All others are stable and self-isolating.

The other nine cases reported Wednesday were in Latah County, pushing its total to 346.

Latah’s nine newest patients include two women and five men between the ages of 18 and 29, one woman in her 40s and another in her 50s. Eighteen- to 29-year-olds are the largest proportion of the 346 cases at 208 — or about 20 percent of the total.

Public Health — Idaho North Central District reported 19 new cases in its five-county jurisdiction, which includes Latah County. Nez Perce County leads the district with 419 of the 1,002 cases reported in all five counties since the pandemic began.

New clinic in Pullman

A new clinic will open in early October in Pullman to assess people with upper respiratory illness symptoms, flu-like symptoms or those who may have been exposed to COVID-19.

Palouse Medical and Pullman Regional Hospital are collaborating to open the ReadyCare Respiratory Center on Oct. 5 at 690 SE Bishop Blvd., Suite D, next to Jiffy Lube.

It will be open 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The ReadyCare Respiratory Center is supposed to provide local clinics and the general public a safe option for patients to be assessed and tested for upper respiratory illnesses at a separate location, helping to further reduce risks of community spread.

The clinic will allow patients to exit out the back of the clinic instead of returning through the main entryway.

Patients can seek COVID-19 screening at the ReadyCare Respiratory Center, but they will be assessed by a provider prior to testing. Otherwise, they will be referred to PRH to get tested.

No appointments are required and no provider referral is needed. Most insurance plans are accepted.

Anthony Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.