Amount Of COVID Cases Increasing In State

There are 34 active cases in Roosevelt County as of Friday, Sept. 3. The number includes 12 new positive cases and two current hospitalizations.

Roosevelt County Health Department received the first positive Delta variant report for a Roosevelt County COVID-19 case on Aug. 26. Delta is highly transmissable and is currently the most common COVID-19 variant circulating in the United States.

Roosevelt County has three COVID vaccination clinics scheduled in the next few weeks.

Clinics are planned for Sept. 9 from 3-6 p.m. in Wolf Point, Sept. 16 from 3-6 p.m. in Wolf Point and Sept. 23 from 3-6 p.m. in Culbertson. Masks are recommended for For up-to-date information on COVID-19, go to dphhs. mt.gov. You can also email covid19taskforce@rooseveltcounty. org for questions or concerns.

Area Statistics

As of Friday, Sept. 3, Roosevelt County has 34 active cases and two current hospitalizations. There have been 55 COVID-related deaths reported in the county.

Daniels County had one active case as of Thursday, Sept. 2. The county has 196 recovered cases and 205 cumulative cases. Eight deaths have occurred due to COVID-19 and/or complications.

In McCone County, there are eight active cases as of Friday, Sept. 3. There are 204 recovered cases. There have been two COVID-related deaths in the county.

For Richland County, there are 47 active cases and 1,299 recovered cases as of Friday, Sept. 3. Total COVID-related deaths are 18. There have been 1,364 total cases.

Statewide

According to Montana health officials, the state’s total number of known cases now stands at 129,487 since the start of the pandemic. There have been 1,643,955 tests conducted.

Around the state, there are 6,086 active cases. There are 266 active hospitalizations. By Friday, Sept. 3, a total of 1,811 deaths have been reported statewide. A total of 121,590 people have recovered.

Though there is no state mask mandate, local jurisdictions may still choose to implement their own mask requirements. Gov. Gianforte emphasized how providing incentives and encouraging personal responsibility are more effective than imposing unenforceable government mandates.

Vaccine Doses

In Roosevelt County, 6,644 total doses have been administered. There have been 3,224 or 38 percent fully immunizations.

As of Friday, Sept. 3, 951,807 total doses have been administered in Montana. There are 466,126 or 50 percent fully immunized Montanans.

The dashboard can be found at https://www.arcgis. com/apps/MapSeries/ index.html?appid=7c-34f3412536439491adc- c2103421d4b.

DPHHS Emergency Rule Promotes Parental Rights Regarding Masking Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte has announced the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services has issued an emergency rule to promote the role of parents as the ultimate decision makers on matters pertaining to the health of their children, including on the issue of wearing masks in schools.

“Montana students deserve to be back in their classroom in as normal and safe an environment as possible. Montana parents deserve to know their voices are heard in schools when health-related mandates for their children are being considered. They also deserve to know that schools are reviewing reliable data and scientific research about the impacts of mask mandates on students,” Gianforte said.

The emergency rule, issued by DPHHS, reads in part, In order to provide for the health, well-being, rights, and educational needs of students, schools and school districts should consider, and be able to demonstrate consideration of, parental concerns when adopting a mask mandate, and should provide students and/or their parents or guardians, on their behalf, with the ability to opt-out of health-related mandates, to include wearing a mask or face covering, for reasons including: (a) physical health; (b) mental health; (c) emotional health; (d) psychosocial health; (e) developmental needs; or (f) religious belief, moral conviction, or other fundamental right the impairment of which could negatively impact the physical, mental, emotional, or psychosocial health of students.

After signing the emergency rule, DPHHS director Adam Meier said, “A number of scientific studies indicate that universal mask use among children can adversely affect their health and development, particularly among children with learning or developmental disabilities. DPHHS respects the authority of parents to make health-related decisions in the best interest of their children, including whether wearing a mask in school is appropriate. DPHHS would encourage schools to take into account all of these factors and implement any mitigation strategies in the least restrictive means as possible to maximize learning outcomes for Montana children.”