Roosevelt County Has 23 Active Cases As Of Tuesday

State Number Tops 8,381

As of press time Tuesday, Sept. 8, Roosevelt County has 23 current active cases of COVID-19. Forty cases are listed as recovered and there has been one confirmed death. Sixty- four total cases have been reported since the beginning of the pandemic. 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 to ensure compliance with the governor’s mask mandate. Both are updated by 11 a.m. daily.

Valley County’s active count was 10, with 41 cases listed as recovered and 51 cases overall. Case 41 is a female aged 10-19 who is not hospitalized. Face coverings or masks are recommended in public places at all times, regardless of the number of active cases in Valley County.

McCone County has zero active cases, with 14 listed as recovered. The McCone Health Department is encouraging all businesses to follow the signage and mask mandate and consult with your corporate headquarters to make sure you are in compliance. This involves all businesses that have indoor spaces open to the public.

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.

The governor changed his mask directive on Aug. 12 to include all public and private schools to require wearing masks in any county with four or more active COVID-19 cases.

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.

The Wolf Point School District was notified Sept. 2 that an individual associated with the district had tested positive for COVID-19. According to the Roosevelt County Health Department, the district’s staff and students were in contact with the individual during the period of possible exposure. Since Sept. 1, the individual has not been at the school. The district has progressed to Plan B, which includes a hybrid learning approach to include both virtual and onsite learning. School officials will continue to monitor the situation and will provide further information if and when it becomes available. From this date forward, the district will keep a ticker tape on their website to indicate all active positive cases in the district.

The Nashua School resumed their distance learning model Sept. 3 and will be continuing until at least Sept. 10. All extra-curricular activities and events have been canceled during this time.

According to the school, the closure was necessary because a health department mandated quarantine was not adhered to. This resulted in staff and students potentially being exposed to the COVID-19 virus inside the school. At press time, Nashua does not have a confirmed positive case in the school.

Due to a positive case of COVID-19, Frontier School District transitioned to Level C with all students in distance learning beginning Sept. 4.

Statewide

According to Montana health officials, 872 COVID-19 cases in the state were reported between Sept. 1 and Sept. 8, making the state’s total number of known cases 8,381 since the start of the pandemic. Around the state, 1,992 people are known to be currently infected, up 356 from Sept. 1. A total of 502 have been hospitalized with 161 currently hospitalized. A total of 6,270 people are listed as recovered. By Tuesday, Sept. 8, 119 deaths had been reported statewide, up from 105 deaths as of Sept. 1.

Tests completed statewide over the past week numbered 1,655 with a total of 268,780 tests conducted statewide since the start of the pandemic.

Fort Peck Tribes

The Fort Peck Tribes moved to phase two Monday, Aug. 31, and the reservation-wide curfew is now Midnight to 5 a.m. All households are being asked to maintain 6 feet distance when not in public, no gatherings of 30 or more people, and essential travel only for medical appointments and supplies. Casinos may be open from 9 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. with restrictions in place. Basketball hoops will be reinstated. Use of hand sanitizer is strongly encouraged.

In a Facebook post Sept. 1, tribal executive board member Kaci Wallette shared information about pandemic relief assistance payments: “You can submit your application all online for the second disbursement for the Fort Peck Tribes COVID-19 Relief Assistance payment.” The application is available by visiting fort_peck_ tribes_cares_act_2nd_relief_ payment.formstack. com/forms/?4027867-it-Np36tlmx& fbclid=I wAR1aqWqnzxsi93WB-V5bhzzS9B0u7tpgbSm7Gg- TzHtEHVNRfhhmIiegY7g- Mg.