County Struggles With Daily Updates As COVID-19 Cases Rise

As of Monday, Oct. 19, Roosevelt County has 242 current active cases of COVID-19, the same number of active from Monday, Oct. 12. Due to the large number of cases in Roosevelt County, official tallies of total cases and recovered cases were unavailable as of presstime.

As of Monday, Oct. 19, there were 240 active cases of COVID-19 in Indian Health Service-eligible persons living on the Fort Peck Reservation. This included 116 in Poplar, 94 in Wolf Point, 11 in Frazer, nine in Brockton, and five each in Riverside and Fort Kipp. Eighteen tribally enrolled members have died from COVID-19-related causes.

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. as time allows.

According to the McCone County Health Department on Monday, Oct. 19, that county is up to seven active cases including two hospitalized. McCone has 41 recovered cases, no total deaths and 48 total cases in county, As of Saturday, Oct. 17, Valley County’s active count was 91, with 166 cases listed as recovered. Valley County reported six individuals are currently hospitalized.

Daniels County had 11 active cases as of Tuesday, Oct. 20. The county has 11 recovered cases and 22 cumulative cases. There are two cases currently hospitalized.

As of Monday, Oct. 19, the Phillips County Health Department was reporting three active cases. One hundred thirty-two cases are listed as recovered. A total of 10 cases have been listed as involving hospitalizations.

For Richland County, there are 67 active cases and 248 recovered cases as of Tuesday, Oct. 20. Total deaths are five. There have been 320 total cases in the county. More than 200 contacts are being monitored.

Statewide

According to Montana health officials, a total of 445,021 tests have been conducted statewide since the start of the pandemic.

The state’s total number of known cases now stands at 24,093 since the start of the pandemic.

Around the state, there are 8,999 active cases. There’s been a total of 1,055 hospitalizations with 360 active hospitalizations.

By Tuesday, Oct. 20, 252 deaths have been reported statewide. A total of 14,842 people are listed as recovered. 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.

Area Schools

The Frontier Elementary School returned to classes for grades K-2 on Tuesday, Oct. 20. Grades 3-8 will continue distance learning until at least through this week.

The Frazer School returned to in-class instruction Oct. 5. An Oct. 5 letter from school administration states that the opt-out deadline has passed and all students are required to attend in person. Opt-out students will be required to return Oct. 19.

The Wolf Point School District remains in plan B with two groups of students attending school on alternating days to limit student numbers at the school. The plan is to return to Plan A on Nov. 2.

At press time, Poplar School District is back in school for all grades but the school district still offers remote learning as well.

Brockton School had students return to classes on Monday, Oct. 19.

Fort Peck Tribes

The Fort Peck Tribes moved to Phase 1 Tuesday, Sept. 29. Phase 1 puts non-essential employees and residents on the reservation under stay at home orders and limits gatherings to 10 people or fewer. All households are being asked to maintain 6 feet distance, wear masks and sanitize.

Roosevelt Medical Center

Culbertson’s Roosevelt Medical Center Public information officer Jaimee Green released the following statement Oct. 15: “As facilities across the area see increases in cases of COVID-19 within their facilities, staff are working to curb the spread of the virus at RMC. At this time, nearly all staff and residents are off quarantine. Residents are back to eating in the dining room and the activities department has resumed activities in a setting more representative of how it took place before quarantine procedures were implemented. The additional staff acquired from the National Guard completed their duty on Thursday and returned to Billings and Great Falls. Staff are returning to work following their quarantine periods and staffing levels are normal. ... Staff continue to be screened before every shift and tested weekly. The clinic’s drivethrough COVID-19 testing will continue Monday-Friday at 1:45 by appointment. The clinic is experiencing an unusually high call volume. Be sure to leave a detailed message if you need to make an appointment and you will be contacted as quickly as possible. To contact the clinic, call 787-6400.”

Roosevelt County Unified Command According to a Facebook Live update on Monday, Oct. 19, a team from Johns Hopkins University will be arriving on the Fort Peck Reservation to assist with notifying persons that IHS has unable to reach of COVID-positive test results as well as doing spot checks on residents who have been ordered to quarantine. Fort Peck Tribes councilwoman Kaci Wallette said that the council is looking at enacting fines for persons who are found to not be quarantining.

Residents on quarantine needing assistance with supplies can call 525-5020 and leave a message detailing assistance requested. Also, people can report others who are not quarantining by calling that number.

An email address, covid-19taskforce@rooseveltcounty. org, has been set up for residents’ questions, etc.

The following press release was issued Tuesday morning, Oct. 20: “The Roosevelt County COVID-19 Unified Command (Task Force) continues to meet bi-weekly to provide coordinated guidance for the region’s COVID-19 response. The task force consists of representatives from the State Disaster and Emergency Services, the National Weather Service, Roosevelt County Health Department, Incident Command, Roosevelt Medical Center, Northeast Mon- tana Health Services, Roosevelt County Commissioners, Ft. Peck Tribes, Indian Health Service, Schools, and more.

“Overall, representatives reported their organizations are managing the uptick in COVID cases well and want to remind county residents to do their part to slow down the spread of the virus. Fort Peck Tribes shared that they will continue to monitor the case positivity rate to determine how and when to lift their current stay-at-home order. The current order goes through the end of October. The Tribes have been able to order three ventilators for local hospitals, as well as HEPA filters, and other COVID related supplies. Thanks to this and other collaborations, all PPE and supply needs are met across the county at this time. The National Guard is currently providing additional assistance to local healthcare facilities, and will be here through the end of the month. By working together across jurisdictions we will be able to mitigate this virus as a united community.

“Testing continues to be available from your healthcare provider, as well as at both IHS locations. However, at this time, IHS is determining testing availability on a day-by-day basis, so please call ahead to check if testing is being done that day. Call 653-1641 for the Wolf Point location, or 768-3491 for the Poplar location.

“If you have questions about COVID-19, please use the newly established Joint Information email: covid-19taskforce@rooseveltcounty. org. For more information, visit the RCHD Facebook page or covid19.mt.gov. “