The move comes as national public health officials are monitoring Idaho, the national hot spot for COVID-19. It has the highest rate of cases in the United States – 82 per 100,000 people, four times Oregon’s rate of 21 cases per 100,000. The national average is 20 case. Idaho has three of the top 10 infection hot spots, according to a daily compilation of state and county health reports by the New York Times. 

Elmore County, southwest of Boise, fourth among the more than 3,000 counties in the United States, reporting 207 cases per 100,000. It is surpassed only by Manassas, Virginia, Nome, Alaska and Perry, Kentucky. Elmore County is one of the few counties in the national with rising caseloads – up 18% in the past two weeks. Coming in eighth is Ada County, Idaho’s most populous county, which includes Boise, the state’s largest city and state capital. It has 182 cases per 100,000 and caseloads rising 32% over the past two weeks. Gooding County in south central Idaho is 10th, with a rate of 153 cases per 100,000 and infections up 191% since two weeks ago.

In comparison, Curry County has Oregon’s highest rate, at 45 cases per 100,000 – but cases are down 45% in the past two weeks. 

In Oregon, 69% of all residents are fully vaccinated – above the national average of 65%. Eight Oregon counties have 50% or less of resident vaccinated – with Lake County’s 39% the lowest of the 36 counties.

Hector Calderon, a janitor at Forest Hills Elementary School in Lake Oswego, was reported by the Oregon Health Authority as the state’s first COVID-19 case on Feb. 28, 2020.