The Courier
NEWS
Gooding EMS Building Open House
Next Wednesday, December 30th, there will be an open house at Gooding County’s new EMS building located just south of North Canyon Medical Center. In August of 2019, the County Commissioners visited the site which they later purchased. While some cleanup of the property took place before that winter, the real ground breaking took place in the spring of 2020. Now they are ready to move in and start providing service to Gooding County from their new location - 1978 Highway 46. The Open House will be held from 3 to 6 p.m. with a guilded tour for groups of five. Mask will be required, but everyone is invited to visit the new facilities.
USDA Highlights Record Levels of Investment in 2020
Press Release - USDA Rural Development USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development Bette Brand recently highlighted the department's investments in 2020 that are building prosperity and strengthening the nation's rural businesses and communities. "Under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, USDA invested a record $40 billion in rural communities in 2020," Brand said. "This assistance is helping increase economic opportunities and improving the quality of life for rural residents across the 50 states and all U.S. territories. Brand added, "USDA responded with urgency to help those affected by the COVID-19 global pandemic. We worked to bring high-speed internet capacity, modern community facilities, and upgraded water and wastewater infrastructure to rural areas. We helped provide homeownership opportunities and reliable electricity. We invested in businesses and family-supporting jobs, because when rural America thrives, all of America thrives." Summary of USDA's Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Accomplishments: Connecting Rural America to High-Speed Broadband Invested $1.3 billion to support rural broadband expansion through the ReConnect Pilot Program. Included in this total is $85 million provided through the CARES Act. In total, these investments are connecting approximately 280,000 households, 19,978 farms and 10,053 businesses to high-speed internet. Also invested $187 million in broadband through the Telecom Infrastructure and Community Connect programs. These investments are connecting 58,249 households in rural communities to high-speed internet. Improving Rural Infrastructure continued on page 2... Invested a record $6.3 billion in 125 projects to upgrade or...
News from the Heart of Idaho Camas • Lincoln • Gooding
December 30, 2020
Vol 44 Num 53
COVID-19 Rates Declining
Case rates for coronavirus in December have declined across most of the South Central Public Health district. Hospitals in South Central Idaho are also reporting improvement in their overall impact from COVID-19, including a reduced number of COVID-19 cases requiring hospitalization over the last few weeks and fewer staff members forced to stay home after exposure to the virus. While the number of new cases is still high compared to summer and spring months, it is consistant with the cyclical nature of this virus. However, health officials are still encouraging people to be careful. "It's great to see our case numbers trending downward. Let's keep it up!" said Josh Jensen, SCPHD Program Manager. "We aren't out of the woods yet but this shows that working together we can slow the spread of this disease and protect lives." Local hospitals warn the strain on emergency rooms is often higher around the holidays because of accidents, holiday stress, and winter conditions. It's important to keep beds open and hospital staff available to handle the holiday patient needs. Watching our distance, wearing masks, and washing our hands are simple steps to keep case rates low and get our hospitals back to regular operating conditions. The initial shipment of vaccine to South Central Idaho was not enough to cover the first tier of priority recipients, and SCPHD reminds residents it will take time before vaccination effectively slows the spread of COVID-19 in the community. In the meantime, public health and local hospitals continue to urge residents to find science-based information as they research the vaccine and choose actions that will slow the spread of disease until our community can be effectively immunized. In related news, California is now reporting the highest number of new daily COVID-19 cases per capita in the country with an average of 100.5 daily COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents. To put this in perspective, California’s case rate in mid-November was 21 new daily cases per 100,000. However, just one week ago the rate was 109.3. Again, these rates show the cyclical nature of this virus and clearly California’s stay-at-home order has had little impact on the spread of Covid-19. While some are speculating that this explosion is due to low compliance, we are likely to see a steep decline in January.