BOISE — Idaho now has a vaccine study site for COVID-19. Solaris Clinical Trials in Meridian is enrolling volunteers in clinical trials of a coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is one of several candidates to be fast-tracked through the federal approval process. The Treasure Valley is one of 39 sites in the U.S. for this phase of the fast-tracked process. The COVID-19 vaccine study in which Solaris is participating is placebo-controlled and...

BOISE — Leaders of Idaho’s largest hospital systems warned this week that more and more patients are arriving with COVID-19, and health care institutions fear an impending crisis. Combined, the systems reported 78 patients with the virus on Tuesday. St. Luke’s Health System CEO Chris Roth told the board of the Central District Health Department on Tuesday that St. Luke’s had 51 COVID-19 patients across the system’s hospitals, of whom 14 were in intensive care units. “I want to put into...

BOISE — A pediatric nurse practitioner in the Boise area has died from complications of COVID-19. Samantha Hickey, of Caldwell, leaves behind a husband and four children, according to St. Luke’s Health System. “It’s with a heavy heart I share w/ you about the passing of a colleague, Samantha Hickey, who died today from complications from #COVID19,” St. Luke’s spokesperson Anita Kissee said Monday on Twitter. “Samantha Hickey was a valued member of the St. Luke’s Children’s team,” the health...

BOISE — The Trump administration issued a directive that will make it hard for Idaho to keep track of how many COVID-19 patients are hospitalized around the state and how many hospital beds, ICU beds and ventilators are available. “This new directive was issued abruptly and presents some significant challenges for Idaho to continue to monitor the number of hospitalizations in the state,” Idaho Department of Health and Welfare spokesperson Niki Forbing-Orr said. Health and Welfare’s most...

BOISE — Three months after the first major coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. was identified at a nursing home in Washington, state officials in Idaho refuse to disclose the names of 22 long-term care facilities where staff or residents have been infected. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare denied a public record request by the Idaho Statesman for a list of those facilities, citing state laws and rules that it believes keep it from disclosing that information. Other states in the...