Vaccines Clinics Scheduled For Feb. 25-26
The Task Force of Roosevelt County, Fort Peck Tribes, Roosevelt Medical Center, Northeast Montana Health Services and Indian Health Services met on Monday, Feb. 22. Information was provided on variant COVID strains circulating in 44 states including in North Dakota. It is predicted that by mid-March, the variant strain plaguing the United Kingdom with high transmissibility and high death rates may be the dominant strain in the U.S.
Currently, COVID case numbers have decreased in the county and reservation. Active daily cases have been averaging 25, with two to six new cases per day, over the past week. Multiple factors are usually responsible for changes in case numbers. In our communities, it may signal less viral activity along with fewer people getting tested. So, where does that leave us here in Northeast Montana at this time? What, as a community, is our best course of action at this stage of the COVID-19 pandemic?
CDC recommendations remain in place. They are:
•Wear a mask in public
•Stay 6 feet away from others
•Avoid crowds
•Avoid poorly ventilated spaces
•Wash your hands often
•Cover coughs and sneezes
•Clean and disinfect
•Monitor your health daily
•Get vaccinated to protect against COVID-19 Personal responsibility and good judgment should be exercised. Gov. Gianforte allowed the state mask mandate to expire about two weeks ago. The Roosevelt County Board of Health met on Feb. 16, and did not put forth any county mask-wearing mandate for businesses or schools. Neither of these actions mean we slack up on wearing masks, but it means control is less with the government and more with individuals. Businesses and local school boards can individually decide how best to apply public health principles. Several schools have communicated that they will continue with mask-wearing at least through the end of the school year. Wolf Point, Poplar and Culbertson schools have or will be hosting basketball tournaments following Montana High School Association guidelines for COVID prevention.
The vaccination efforts continue in our area. Indian Health Services has vaccinated 1,300 people for first doses. They will host vaccine clinics in Poplar on Thursday, Feb. 25, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Poplar Cultural Center and in Wolf Point on Friday, Feb 26, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Wolf Point Community Hall. All eligible IHS clients above age 18 are welcome.
Roosevelt County Health Department has vaccinated 460 people for first doses, Roosevelt Medical Center approximately 100 first doses and NEMHS approximately 100 first doses. The health department predicts that Phase 1B recipients will be completed by mid-March, then they will be able to serve people in Phase 1C of the Montana COVID vaccine distribution plan (see criteria for Phases below). If you are not IHS eligible and are in either Phase 1B or 1C, sign up on the Roosevelt County Health Department’s COVID vaccine list by calling (406) 653-6223 or (406) 653-6124 or go to their Facebook page and click on the link to sign up. Someone will call you and set up an appointment time for your vaccination.
The current group of people being vaccinated is Phase 1B: Persons aged 70 years and older; American Indians and other people of color who may be at elevated risk for COVID-19 complications; Persons aged 16-69 with high-risk medical conditions. Qualifying medical conditions include: Cancer, chronic kidney disease, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), Down Syndrome, heart conditions such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, or cardiomyopathies, immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) from solid organ transplant, severe obesity (BMI ≥ 40 kg/m2), Sickle cell disease, Type 1 & 2 Diabetes mellitus and on a case-by-case basis, medical providers may include individuals with other conditions that place them at elevated risk for COVID-19 related complications.
The next group to be vaccinated is 1C: frontline essential workers, persons aged 60 years and older, individuals residing in congregate care and correctional facilities, persons aged 16-59 with medical conditions not included in phase 1B that may have an elevated risk of COVID-19 complications, conditions include: asthma (moderate-to-severe), cerebrovascular disease (affects blood vessels and blood supply to the brain), cystic fibrosis, hypertension or high blood pressure, immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) from blood or bone marrow transplant, immune deficiencies, HIV, use of corticosteroids, or use of other immune weakening medicines, neurologic conditions, such as dementia, liver disease, overweight (MMI>25kg/ m2, but < 50 kg/m2), pulmonary fibrosis (having damaged or scarred lung tissues) and Thalassemia (a type of blood disorder).
On the day of this press release, Feb. 22, the United States reached a death toll of 500,000 people. A half million people lost their lives. The COVID pandemic has been a long year of unprecedented illness and stress for us all. Please continue to diligently follow public health principles and interventions as each of us play a part in the outcome.
If you have questions about COVID-19 or the vaccine, email covid19taskforce@rooseveltcounty. org.
Area Statistics
As of Monday, Feb. 22, Valley County’s active count was 20. There have been 778 recovered cases and 11 reported COVID-reported deaths.
Daniels County had three active cases as of Tuesday, Feb. 23. The county has 185 recovered cases and 195 cumulative cases. Seven deaths have occurred due to COVID-19 and/ or complications. There are no cases currently hospitalized.
In McCone County, there were three active cases as of Monday, Feb. 22. There are 172 recovered cases.
The Phillips County Health Department was reporting 10 active cases as of Monday, Feb. 22. Four hundred and seventy- six cases are listed as recovered. There are two active hospitalizations and 15 reported COVID-related deaths.
For Richland County, there are 23 active cases and 1,147 recovered cases as of Monday, Feb. 22. Total deaths are 15. There are 30-plus contacts being monitored.
Statewide
According to Montana health officials, the state’s total number of known cases now stands at 98,810 since the start of the pandemic. There have been 1,050,392 tests conducted.
Around the state, there are 2,170 active cases. There are 78 active hospitalizations.
By Tuesday, Feb. 23, a total of 1,341 deaths have been reported statewide. A total of 95,299 people are listed as recovered.
Several health mandates for Montana put into effect by former Gov. Steve Bullock were removed by new Gov. Greg Gianforte Jan. 15: Restaurants, bars, breweries, distilleries and casinos no longer have to close at 10 p.m. Gianforte encourages businesses to follow public health guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control, but the governor removed capacity limits for businesses.
Gianforte issued a directive and an executive order on Friday, Feb. 12. The directive rescinds and replaces all prior directives implementing Executive Order 2-2021, which the governor issued on Jan. 13. Consistent with the governor’s announcement on Wednesday, Feb. 10, the new directive allows the statewide mask mandate to expire. Local jurisdictions may still choose to implement their own mask requirements. Gianforte emphasized how providing incentives and encouraging personal responsibility are more effective than imposing unenforceable government mandates.
On Feb. 10, Gianforte signed S.B. 65 into law which provides a liability shield to businesses, nonprofits, and others who protect their workers, their customers, and their clients from the spread of COVID-19.
In keeping with Gianforte’s Jan. 13 directive which removed restrictions on hours of service and capacity for businesses, the latest directive continues to encourage businesses to adopt industry best practices or public health guidance to protect their employees and customers. The directive also continues to promote the use of telehealth services, protect vulnerable Montanans from eviction or foreclosure, ease of licensing for health care professionals and a reduction in regulatory burdens.
On Monday, Feb. 22, President Biden commemorated the country’s 500,000 COVID-related death with a ceremony.
Flu Shots
Area health officials are stressing that flu shots are more important this year than ever because the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to keep the community safe, health officials offer advice and information on these two infections are related.
COVID-19 and the flu are each highly contagious respiratory infections, but have some key differences. They are caused by different viruses. COVID-19 is more infectious, and there is a vaccine to prevent the flu. There are some symptom similarities between the two, which may make it difficult to determine which illness you have if you are experiencing symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, difficulty breathing, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, vomiting and diarrhea. Flu can be a more mild illness than COVID-19, and COVID-19 symptoms also can include loss of taste or smell. It may be necessary to receive testing to determine which illness you are experiencing.
To get a flu shot, make an appointment with the Roosevelt County Health Department or make an appointment with your primary care provider.
Flu shots are available at the following locations: Roosevelt County Health Department, Chief Redstone IHS Clinic in Wolf Point, Verne E. Gibbs IHS Clinic in Poplar, Listerud Rural Health Clinic in Wolf Point, Riverside Clinic in Poplar and Roosevelt Medical Clinic in Culbertson.
Vaccines are covered by health insurance, Medicaid and Medicare. If you don’t have health insurance, call the health department for assistance at 653-6223.
Area Schools
Local health officials approved the Wolf Point School District to reopen four days a week (Plan A) starting Monday, Nov. 2. Classes began on that day for Wolf Point High School, Wolf Point Junior High School and Northside Elementary Schools. Classes resumed at Southside Elementary Wednesday, Nov. 11.
For Frontier Elementary School, classes are back in session Students in grades K-2 and 5-8 will attend Monday through Friday. Third-grade students will attend Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Fourth-grade students will attend Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Dismissal is 3:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 2:30 p.m. on Friday.
The Frazer School returned to in-class instruction Oct. 5. Students are offered the optout option.
Poplar High School students attend daily, Monday-Thursday, during the second semester. Fridays will be for individual student, scheduled interventions and/or small group help including remote learners.
Fort Peck Tribes
Fort Peck Tribes are now in a modified phase 2 reopening. Starting on Jan. 15, all tribal employees returned to work from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Tribal casinos have reopened from 9 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. at 50 percent capacity.
No gathering of 30 or more people is allowed. Curfew is 12:30 a.m. to 5:30 a.m.
Vaccine Info
The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services’ dashboard features county by county breakdown as far as vaccination numbers.
In Roosevelt County, 1,964 total doses have been administered. There have been 575 fully immunizations.
As of Monday, Feb. 22, 216,383 total doses have been administered in Montana. There are 68,191 fully immunized Montanans. The map features such information as total doses administered, number of first doses administered, number of people fully immunized, doses administered per 1,000 people and eligible population to be vaccinated.
The dashboard can be found at https://www.arcgis. com/apps/MapSeries/ index.html?appid=7c-34f3412536439491adcc2103421d4b.
