McCone County Adds One Recovered Case Of COVID-19
Roosevelt County Adds Two Cases Tuesday
McCone County reported a confirmed, but recovered case, of COVID-19. The case was reported by the State of Montana on its Monday, July 20, daily report. The person, a male in his 60s, was tested at a community testing event July 1 and, according to the McCone County Health Department, isolated at home awaiting the test results. Because the test results took 16 days to get back, the man is only being reported in the cumulative count, but not the active case count. Cases are removed from the active count and considered recovered after 14 days have passed from the date of testing.
On Tuesday, July 21, the State of Montana reported a total of 11 cases of COVID-19 for Roosevelt County with four active. However, the Roosevelt County Health Department reported that data was inaccurate and Roosevelt County did not have four active cases. Richland County has six active cases. Valley and Sheridan counties each have one. Billings County is the hot spot in the state with 472 active cases as of Tuesday.
According to Montana health officials, 669 COVID-19 cases in the state were reported between July 14 and July 20. This bumped the state’s total number of known cases to 2,621. Around the state, 1,248 people are known to be currently infected and 48 are hospitalized. Since the start of the pandemic, a total of 167 persons required hospitalization. A total of 1,334 people are listed as recovered, up from 884 on Tuesday, July 14. By Tuesday, July 21, six new deaths had been reported statewide, up from 34 deaths last Tuesday.
There have been 139,042 tests conducted statewide since the start of the pandemic, including 17,646 tests processed in the past week. The 2,621 known cases results in an overall 1.9 percent positive test result rate.
Mask Mandate
On Wednesday, July 15, Montana Governor Steve Bullock issued a mandate requiring masks in public spaces in counties with four or more active cases with some caveats. Masks are required: in public indoor spaces, such as businesses, government buildings or grocery stores; and at outdoor gatherings of 50 or more people, where social distancing is not possible or not observed.
Masks are not required for children under the age of five, while engaged in a performance for an audience, for the purposes of receiving medical examination or treatment, while consuming food or drink in an establishment selling food or drink, for those with a medical condition preventing safe mask wearing, while communicating with someone who is hearing impaired and for activities where it would be unsafe or impractical.
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. See separate article in this issue.
Testing
“Where we have been sending the surveillance samples, [Quest Diagnostics] has delayed further and further its turnaround time, not just in Montana but indeed across the nation,” Bullock said Wednesday in a press conference. “When it takes a week to 10 days or more to provide us with results back on our test, it really is of more limited value to Montanans.”
Due to the backlog of surveillance samples at Quest, the state is reevaluating its testing recommendations, and many community testing events across the state were canceled.
The state health department is now organizing testing at the public health lab by priorities. The first priority is testing that supports response activities to slow the spread of the virus. That includes people who are symptomatic, regardless of whether they are hospitalized. The other group of people in the first priority are those who are close contacts and part of outbreak investigations that are being coordinated by local public health authorities. Close contacts in this definition are generally identified and referred to health care providers for testing by local public health officials.
The second priority is testing that supports surveillance and monitoring activities and prioritizes frontline workers such as health care workers in high-risk situations, staff of assisted living facilities and longterm care centers participating in surveillance testing. This priority level also includes residents of selected congregate settings such as group homes, institutions and other facilities.
The state health lab’s guidance says “other low priority testing will be conducted as resources allow but may not be a priority.” That includes testing of individuals in the general public who are not symptomatic; asymptomatic testing before for activities such as travel and pre-procedural testing such as before operations, dental visits and similar activities and others.
Roosevelt County Fair
The 2020 Roosevelt County Fair will only be open to 4-H, FFA and Scouts entries. Ugly Fabric Contest participants can hold on to their 2020 submissions and enter them in 2021, along with the 2021 contest. Open class exhibitors may enter projects for 2021 that were made from August 2019 through July 2021.
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. Masks are not mandated by the tribes.
