Roosevelt County Down To Two Active COVID-19 Cases, Valley County Count Up

As of press time Tuesday, Aug. 11, Roosevelt County has only two current active cases of COVID-19. Valley County’s active count was nine, while McCone County had three. Phillips County jumped to 55 active cases.

This now means, as of presstime Tuesday, Roosevelt County is no longer under Gov. Steve Bullock’s mandatory mask order since it has less than four cases. However, the case count changes daily and all are encourage to visit the Roosevelt County Health Department’s Facebook page or call 653-6124 for confirmation of the official daily count. Both are updated by 11 a.m. daily.

The governor’s July 15 directive for counties with four or more active cases requires face masking in any indoor space, open to the public, is mandatory for people ages five years and older. For children 2-4 years of age, face coverings are strongly encouraged. A drape may be used for babies.

County sheriffs and other law enforcement across the state have said that the mask mandate is not enforceable and violations should not be called into 911.

Statewide

According to Montana health officials, 790 COVID-19 cases in the state were reported between Aug. 4 and Aug. 11. This bumped the state’s total number of known cases to 5,104 since the start of the pandemic. Around the state, 1,485 people are known to be currently infected, up 241 from Aug. 4. A total of 276 have been hospitalized with 77 currently hospitalized. A total of 3,542 people are listed as recovered, up from 2,766 on Tuesday, Aug. 4. By Tuesday, Aug. 4, 77 deaths had been reported statewide, up from 64 deaths Aug. 4.

Tests completed statewide over the past week numbered 13,176 with a total of 194,412 tests conducted statewide since the start of the pandemic. That testing number is down from 22,581 tests the week before. The 5,104 known cases results in an overall 2.6 percent positive test result rate.

Fort Peck Tribes

The Fort Peck Tribes have reverted to Phase 2 and the reservation-wide curfew has reverted to a start time of 12:30 a.m.

According to a July 31 announcement, the Tribes are planning on instituting a mandatory mask order later this week. According to TEB member Kaci Wallette, masks will be delivered to the following locations (one mask per person per household): Tribal Express II in Frazer, Horseshoe Bar in Oswego, HPDP in Wolf Point, Tribal building in Poplar and Fred’s Bar & Grill in Brockton.

In a Facebook post Aug. 11, Wallette shared information about pandemic relief assistance payments. “TEB voted and approved of continuing the COVID-19 Energy Assistance payments to be $200 monthly until December 2020,” said Wallette. “We also voted to approve a second COVID-19 Relief Assistance Payment with the $650 per adult and $200 per child. No need to send in second application for either if you have already applied. Deadline will be Aug. 31, 2020, to apply. Second payment scheduled to be mailed out Sept. 21.”