Valley goes two weeks with no new virus cases

Monday marked two weeks since Flathead County has reported a new positive case of the novel coronavirus — a milestone in controlling the outbreak that comes as many local businesses begin to reopen under state guidelines.

Overall, Montana’s coronavirus task force hasn’t reported more than four new daily positives statewide in over a week. On Monday, there was only one new case reported, that of a female in Yellowstone County age 60 to 69.

Experts say, however, it is very likely there are more positive cases in the state considering limited testing has only allowed for 13,000 tests to be conducted in total. Of these, 449 have been positive.

A total of 352 of these individuals have “recovered,” meaning they have passed recovery standards set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These rates are strong in Flathead County as well, with the Flathead City-County Health Department showing 33 of the valley’s 37 total positives have recovered.

In Northwest Montana, most counties haven’t reported new cases for quite some time. Lincoln and Lake counties have remained stable for more than a week, according to state testing results, and Sanders Mineral, Powell and Teton counties have yet to report any positive cases since the start of Montana’s outbreak.

Even more hard-hit areas have gone days without reporting new cases, according to data from the coronavirus task force. For example, the Toole County Health Department hasn’t reported a new positive since April 17.

The county, which is situated along the state’s Hi-Line and has a population of less than 5,000 residents, experienced a significant outbreak beginning in late March after the virus was detected in an assisted-living facility in Shelby. To date, Toole County has experienced 29 total cases with six of those resulting in fatalities — the most recorded per-county in Montana.

An exception to the decrease in cases in Northwest Montana is Glacier County, where two new cases were recorded on Sunday. However, as a whole, the county has only experienced six positive cases.

Reporter Kianna Gardner can be reached at 758-4407 or kgardner@dailyinterlake.com