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COVID-19 Status in Valley County

The Valley County Board of Health was planning to release a local public health order in response to continued upticks in positive coronavirus cases in the county. The mandate was set to be released Monday, Nov. 9 (as of press time the draft had not been published), for public comment ahead of the BOH meeting, which will be held at 5:15 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 12, via Zoom. KLTZ should also be broadcasting the meeting for their listeners, per an email from Executive Director Clay Berger.

The public health order seeks to limit social gatherings to 50 or fewer people. A mandate from the governor issued early this year exempts schools, churches and youth activities from the limitation. The local mandate will not override the governor’s, therefore schools, churches and youth activities will not be impacted. The mask mandate remains in effect regardless of the local public health order.

Public input will be gathered up to and through the meeting Nov. 12, before a final decision on implementation is made. Comments may be made via email to [email protected], via fax to (406) 228-6242 or participating in the Zoom meeting.

Some confusion may occur since some social gatherings, such as weddings and funerals, often take place in churches. Other events, such as dart tournaments, will fall under the mandate. Anyone planning an event or with questions should contact the Valley County Health Department for clarification and to ensure health and safety standards are met.

Valley County continues to add numbers to the cumulative number of cases. The last update from the Health Department on social media occurred Nov. 5, announcing 71 active cases. As of that date, there had been 424 total cases of COVID-19 in the county, with five deaths and 348 recovered cases.

Frances Mahon Deaconess Hospital also provided an update via social media on Nov. 5. As of that date, FMDH had 11 inpatients total. Five of those patients were confirmed covid positive, one was confirmed negative, one patient was considered “recently recovered” and four were pending covid test results.

Valley Ciew reported on Nov. 5, via social media, that only one case was active among residents and one was active among staff, with one pending test. There have been 13 cases among residents and 12 confirmed cases among staff members at the nursing home.

Glasgow Schools have also reported recent confirmed cases of COVID-19 among staff and students. On Nov. 4, Superintendent Wade Sundby released a statement saying a student at Glasgow Middle School had been confirmed positive, though last had contact at the school on Oct. 29. Remote learning for the classes affected began Nov. 5. The school district further confirmed positive cases among staff on Nov. 5 and Nov. 6.

The Glasgow School District on Nov. 8 added an additional four students to their list of current cases. All three schools in the district reported cases. Classes involved began remote learning on Nov. 9. According to the letter from Sundby on Nov. 8 the Glasgow School District had at that time “12 active cases, 44 recovered for a total of 56. Contacts of positive cases are 92 released and 21 not released from quarantine for a total of 113.”

Neighboring counties, Phillips and Roosevelt, also continue to report new COVID-19 cases. Phillips County reported two new cases Nov. 5. The county on that date had 34 active cases with 172 recovered. Phillips County has reported four deaths in a total of 210 cases. Roosevelt County reported eight new cases on Nov. 5, bringing their total active cases to 81. The county has recorded 31 deaths due to COVID-19.

Statewide, Montana was reporting 39,679 cumulative cases as of Nov. 8 with 15,430 cases currently active. The state has seen 1,477 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 458 hospitalizations were active as of Sunday. Yellowstone, Cascade, Gallatin, Missoula and Flathead counties continue to report the most active number of cases, concurrent with population numbers.

On Nov. 8, the state reported 819 new cases with 11 additional deaths. The test positivity rate for Sunday was nearly 58 percent. National and international health organizations recommend a positivity rate of less than 10 percent for a period of two weeks before a state or city is considered safe for reopening.

The Valley County Health Department shared on their social media page a list of observations from two COVID-19 county health nurse investigators from 400 conversations with persons diagnosed with the disease. Those observations are as follows:

1. Fever is one of the least common symptoms.

2. “I just thought I had a cold” is the most common statement.

3. “I just thought I had a sinus infection” is the second most common statement.

4. The mild symptoms in the first day or two might be MUCH worse by day three. Stay home with the mild symptoms!

5. The four most common symptoms are headache, nasal congestion, body aches, and fatigue.

6. Every single person who has lost or had a change in their taste or smell has tested positive for COVID-19. Many people don’t get this symptom at all, but anyone who has this symptom also has COVID-19. That is our experience so far.

7. People with a very small circle of “safe” people do not spread COVID-19 to others.

 

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