Andy Sullivan

(Reuters) – As the resurgent COVID-19 pandemic burns through the rural U.S. state of Idaho, health officials say they don’t have enough tests to track the disease’s spread or sufficient medical workers to help the sick.

It’s not for want of funding.

The state’s Republican-led legislature this year voted down $40 million in federal aid available for COVID-19 testing in schools. An additional $1.8 billion worth of pandemic-related federal aid is currently sitting inactive in the state’s treasury and waiting for legislators to use it.

Some Idaho lawmakers have accused Washington overreach. Other people see testing in schools as unneeded and disruptive. This is especially true since very few cases have been reported.

Ben Adams, Republican state representative representing Nampa (a small city with around 100,000 inhabitants in southwest Idaho), said, “If your kids want to be in school, then you shouldn’t be testing.”

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 369 cases have been confirmed per 100,000 residents, making it the fifth most infected state in America.

According to Burbio (a platform that monitors U.S school activity), schools in 14 out of Idaho’s 85 districts, which includes Nampa, had to be closed temporarily because of COVID-19 epidemics.

Idaho’s COVID-19 experience shows how political ideology as well as polarization surrounding the epidemic play a role in the rejection of federal funding intended to aid local officials fighting the virus.

Idaho, for instance, was one of 26 Republican-led state that eliminated federally-funded unemployment benefits in advance of their September expiration. Gov. Brad Little said that money is discouraging jobless workers from returning to work. Six studies show that extra benefits had minimal to no effect on the U.S. labor force.

Idaho rejected $6 million in early-childhood education funding. This was because some Republicans in Idaho believed that mother should be primary caregivers of their children.

Also, the state did not submit a $6 million application that would have supported two safety-net programs to aid working mothers and young families. Little’s administration claimed it has enough money to fund these programs.

Idaho accepted federal COVID-19 assistance. The state statistics show that the Idaho government has accepted some federal COVID-19 funds. This is a fraction of nearly $2 billion worth of federal aid Idaho has received since March 2020, to combat the virus, support families and businesses, and so on.

There are hundreds of thousands more that remain untapped. Idaho only deployed $780million, 30%, from the $2.6billion it was awarded under the federal American Rescue Plan Act. Its law was signed in March.

Nearly three quarters of $7.8 million received by Washington has been distributed to its neighboring state. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Washington has seen roughly 60% more cases per capita than Idaho since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Some in Idaho are exasperated that a state of just 1.8 million people would turn down a dime of assistance when it’s struggling to tame the pandemic.

Rebekah, Nampa’s chief nurse, explained to the school board that there is no way for nurses at schools in Nampa to test their students. To track and quarantine people, she said that she required three to four more employees.

She said, “We are tired and stressed. And something has to be done.”

REJECTING FED EXEMPLARY MONEY

It’s not a new phenomenon for red states to refuse federal aid they believe would be beneficial for their citizens.

For example, a dozen Republican-controlled states have rejected billions of dollars available through the landmark 2010 Affordable Health Care Act to cover more people under the Medicaid health program for the poor, which is jointly funded by the federal government and the states. Lawmakers from these places contended their states couldn’t afford to pay their share of an expansion. (Idaho at first was one of them. However, its citizens voted in favor of the Medicaid expansion via a 2018 referendum. This bypassed state leaders.

The same dynamics has been observed during the coronavirus epidemic. From March 2020 to March 2020, Congress approved six aid packages worth $4.7 trillion, under both Democratic and Republican administrations. This includes the bipartisan CARES Act of March 2020 as well as the Democratic-backed American Rescue Plan Act.

Mississippi and Florida didn’t submit applications for benefit that would provide more money to young mothers with low incomes. Idaho, North Dakota, Oklahoma and others decided to not extend the program which provided groceries money to families of low income with children under school age during summer months.

Iowa rejected federal funds for COVID-19 testing schools, just like Idaho. New Hampshire turned down money to pay for vaccines.

Like others, Idaho’s Republican legislators raise concerns over local control and restrictive terms on some aid. They also point to the nation’s skyrocketing debt.

Adams, the Idaho legislator said that “We are enslaving future generations to financial slavery for a lifetime”

Idaho had depended on Washington since before the epidemic. The National Association of State Budget Officers reports that 36% of Idaho’s spending comes from federal sources, which is more than the national average of 32%.

According to state officials, they currently have sufficient money for the COVID-19 emergency.

Critics claim that Idaho’s refusal to receive more federal funding is evidence of the state’s indifferent approach to COVID-19 safety. Local leaders refuse to enforce mask requirements in public schools, while few local officials require them. They also do not allow indoor gatherings to be prohibited.

David Pate (ex-head of St. Luke’s Health System in the State’s largest hospital network) stated that “there’s a lot people in our legislature as well as some local officials who haven’t taken this seriously.”

Idaho is home to one of the lowest rates of vaccination in the United States, with 55% of all adults and adolescents fully immunized – compared to 67% nationally.

HOSPITALS FULL

COVID-19 continues to plague Idaho, even though cases are down across the country. There are no COVID-related patients in the hospitals, so they have to fill up all of their intensive-care units. According to records, 627 deaths were recorded in October from this disease, which is far higher than last winter’s monthly total. 

The American Rescue Plan provided $18 million to Idaho for the purpose of hiring more public-health staff, however lawmakers didn’t do anything with this money.

A few local health departments claim they don’t have the staff necessary to monitor this virus. Brianna Boldily, spokesperson for Twin Falls public-health agency, said that there are many people who can do two to three jobs. Twin Falls is located in the southern Idaho region of Idaho. This year, the department has a budget of 12% less than in previous years.

According to Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, such staff shortages result in a statewide backlog of test results that is hindering the agency’s ability provide an up to date picture of disease prevalence.

Little announced that the governor would use $30 million of COVID-19 funding to fund school testing, despite the fact that funds were still being held up at the capitol.

Kathleen Tucker spokeswoman said the Nampa school district requested some of this money, but had not yet set up a testing system. According to Paula Kellerer, roughly 80% of district students didn’t attend class in the first week of school due to illness outbreaks.

Jaci Johnson is a Nampa resident and mother of two kids, aged 10 and 13. She said other parents are torn about sending their children to classes because of the risk.

Do we give our children to the lions or keep them at home making them miserable? Johnson stated.