Gov. Brad Little on Friday issued a commentary stating his opposition to President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate order.

He wrote that the president's plan "to punish America’s businesses with his vaccine mandate is not the answer. It is an unlawful act of unprecedented government overreach. Businesses should be left to make decisions about the management of their employees."

Earlier this month, Biden directed the Labor Department to require businesses with 100 or more employees to be sure their workers are vaccinated or tested once a week.

"Americans are deeply divided on COVID-19 and the response to it," Little wrote. "Public health has turned political, there’s no doubt about it."

But he said hospitals are crowded with COVID-19 patients and being pushed to the limits, and even beyond, with staffing and resources. Kootenai Health continues to operate in crisis standards of care and turned a resource center into a 22-bed COVID-19 unit. It had 114 coronavirus patients on Friday, with 43 requiring critical care.

Little said Idaho has expanded access to monoclonal antibody treatment, mobilized the National Guard, deployed a military medical response team to North Idaho and added hundreds of medical and administrative personnel in its hospitals.

"All these actions have helped, but the end of the pandemic can only come if more people choose to receive the vaccine," he wrote.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that 182.6 million people, 55% of the U.S. population, have been fully vaccinated.

In Kootenai County, 67,567 people 12 and older, 47% of the population in that age group, have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

In the Panhandle Health District, 88,268 people 12 and older, 42%, have been fully vaccinated.

The virus continues to hit older people harder.

In Idaho, 90% of COVID-19 related deaths have been people age 60 and older. One hundred and eight people in Idaho under the age of 50 have had their deaths attributed to the virus. No one under 18 in Idaho has died of the coronavirus, according to the state website.

Despite those lower local vaccination rates, Little said he opposed Biden's vaccine mandate.

"Idahoans do not like being bullied into submission by the federal government," Little wrote. "Biden threatening Americans into compliance damages a country already divided. He is breeding a level of resentment and distrust of government that will take generations to heal. His actions simply are not good for our country, now or in the long term."

He said he has resisted putting in place statewide mask mandates and vaccine mandates "because COVID-19 mandates from high levels of government do not work to change behavior in places where people hold fiercely independent values. Idaho has leaned on a more localized approach with these decisions, consistent with the law."

"Here in Idaho, we have been working to build confidence in the vaccine by sharing the message about its safety and effectiveness," he wrote.