Two more in county test positive for coronavirus

Two additional individuals have tested positive for coronavirus in Flathead County, according to the Flathead City-County Health Department. Kalispell Regional Healthcare said one of the cases involves an employee who traveled out of state recently.

According to the health department, the two cases involve a woman in her 30s and a man in his 50s. The health department said it “is beginning an investigation and will be providing additional information as it is available.”

A media release Monday night from Kalispell Regional said the employee who tested positive had traveled outside of Montana between March 12 and March 16. The hospital did not state where the employee visited.

The employee returned to work on March 17 with no symptoms. On March 18, the employee was screened and had minor symptoms including a slight runny nose and occasional cough, according to the hospital’s media release. She then worked a full shift on March 19.

On Saturday, March 21, her symptoms had not worsened or changed, but a friend she stayed with during her out-of-state travel contacted her and told her she had been in contact with a positive COVID-19 case and the friend she stayed with was having symptoms. She suggested the employee may need to be tested for COVID-19 and she was tested while at work. 

The employee is recovering at home on a 14-day isolation. The hospital is investigating how many patients or co-workers the employee might have come in contact with.

“The appropriate detailed surveillance, interventions, and containment strategies are under way and as before all the appropriate steps will be taken,” the media release states. “As a reminder and as a part of our investigation, anyone who meets the surveillance criteria for contact with this employee will be notified, sent home for quarantine and tested should symptoms arise.”

Kalispell Regional’s media release did not specify which department the employee works in.

Th two new cases, combined with Flathead County’s first two positive cases announced last week, bring the county’s total positive case count to four. However, one of the four individuals, a man in his 50s from Illinois, will not be counted in Flathead County’s total number of positive cases because he is an out-of-state resident.

As of Monday afternoon, Montana has 45 positive cases, according to the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services. Gallatin County has the most positive cases, at 16, followed by Yellowstone County at seven, Missoula County at six and Flathead County at four.