As the resurgent COVID-19 pandemic burns through the rural US 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.The state’s Republican-led legislature this year voted down US$40 million in federal aid available for COVID-19 testing in schools. Another US$1.8 billion in pandemic-related federal assistance is sitting idle in the state treasury, waiting for lawmakers to deploy it.
Schools in at least 14 of Idaho's 115 districts, including Nampa, have had to close temporarily due to COVID-19 outbreaks since the start of the year, according to Burbio, a digital platform that tracks US school activity. The state also did not apply for US$6 million that would have bolstered two safety-net programs that aid mothers of young children and working families. Little's administration said it had enough money already for those programs.
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. That same dynamic has played out during the coronavirus crisis. Since March 2020, Congress has approved six aid packages totaling US$4.7 trillion under Republican and Democratic administrations, including the bipartisan CARES Act in March 2020 and the Democratic-backed American Rescue Plan Act this year.
"We are chaining future generations to a lifetime of financial slavery," said Adams, the Idaho legislator.
Origin of Covid-19 coronavirus. The WHO must investigate all evidence especially in countries where there are early reports of the coronavirus appearing.