Just under 200 quarantined

Montana reported 1,101 new coronavirus cases as of 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, according to the Governor’s Coronavirus Task Force report. Twelve cases new cases were reported in Madison County, bringing active cases to 63.

Over the weekend the Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) upgraded its statewide communicable disease reporting system that local county and tribal health officials use to report COVID-19 cases. Due to the upgrade, new cases were not able to be reported in the system until late Sunday evening.

Local public health officials were able to perform case and contact investigations, and positive cases were reported into the new system beginning Monday. The Task Force explained that Monday’s case count was likely lower than expected and Tuesday’s higher due to this change.

According to Madison County Public Health Nurse Melissa Brummell, just under 200 people are currently quarantined in Madison County. There have been 55 new cases since last Monday.

According to MCPHD Facebook page, 25% of tests in Madison County the last week in October were positive. The post mentioned that more close contacts and symptomatic individuals are being tested, but that this has been the norm and numbers have not been this high. MCPHD was notified of 22 positive cases within a 24-hour time period last week.

“Yeah, we had a lot of COVID here in March, April, May and obviously in July, but the numbers now are significantly higher and we are starting to see a strain on our health system here in Montana because of those numbers,” Dr. Maura Davenport at the Madison Valley Medical Center (MVMC) said. What concerns her is how full hospitals are. MVMC is experiencing limited beds for COVID and regular patients, Dr. Davenport said, as are hospitals throughout the state.

“It comes down to the same thing it has always come down to—wearing masks and washing your hands and staying away from people,” Dr. Davenport said.

She reminded the public that there are medications available to help decrease the course of the flu, which is going around, as is strep. Individuals who test negative for COVID but are still not feeling well can get evaluated at the hospital to determine if they have the flu and may benefit from medication.

“I just encourage people to stay home. We need to come together as a community and really work on that,” Dr. Davenport said.

Madison County schools continue to adapt to increased case numbers in the community.