Incident Command, nursing home, The Madisonian Covid moving to bimonthly upda

As of May 18, Madison County reported one active coronavirus case and zero hospitalizations. One hospitalization was reported late last week, but the individual was able to check out early. Seven hundred and ninety cases have been confirmed over the course of the pandemic.

“Things are looking extremely nice,” Incident Command Leader Joe Brummell said. He pointed out that Gallatin County is under 100 daily cases, something that has not happened in a ‘solid ten months.’

“The bed capacity is just phenomenal across the entire state, even,” Brummell added.

Brummell provided national information to the Madison County Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday.

Per the State Financial Service Division, he said, there will be no CARES Act reimbursement opportunities on the horizon, even with money designated to Montana from the federal government. None is designated to CARES funds.

Thirty-five percent of the United States population is fully vaccinated, and Brummell said that 33 billion due to loss revenue has been saved based on parts of the economy reopening. The national goal is to reach 70% by this summer, which would result in a 53-billion-dollar savings.

In Madison County, 2,729 individuals are fully vaccinated, and 3,189 first doses have been administered.

Due to the decrease in age eligible for the Pfizer vaccine, 12-15 years old, Madison County’s eligibility has reached 7,777. Currently, Madison County does not have the storage ability for the Pfizer vaccine and is requesting county residents looking to vaccinate individuals in this age range to look outside the county for the doses. There is consideration of using a mobile vaccine clinic to support these vaccinations in the future.

In both the Madison Valley Manor (MVM) in Ennis and Tobacco Root Mountains Care Center (TRMCC) in Sheridan, no staff or residents are quarantined and there are no hospitalizations.

The county prevalence rate is near 15%, which means the facilities are testing staff twice weekly, residents as needed.

“Referrals are coming in hot,” Gail Nelson, nursing home administrator for TRMCC, said. “There is the potential for a few more admissions in the next couple of weeks.” Nelson mentioned a need for more agency staffing with increasing census numbers.

During Tuesday’s Madison County Board of Commissioners’ meeting, Brummell requested to move the Incident Command Team’s Covid update to twice a month, as opposed to the weekly update, as the nursing home administrators requested previously, and this was agreed upon. Following suit, The Madisonian’s Covid updates will be printed bimonthly