BOZEMAN — The Gallatin City-County Health Department says they are seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases according to their weekly update Friday afternoon.
According to City-County Health Officer Lori Christenson, COVID-19 cases are up 28 percent from last week, meaning that there are about 81 cases for every 100,000 people.
Officials say that the county’s positivity rate is up to 14.2 percent, up from 11.3 percent last week.
Critical care at Bozeman Deaconess Hospital is currently at 95 percent capacity with the National Guard still assisting.
Officials at the hospital have asked for an extension of the National Guard’s help. “We did just request an extension from our initial request from the National Guard,” says Kallie Kujawa, System Director of Quality and Safety. “We are confident that will be granted so that we can continue to use them in the next few weeks.”
Officials reiterated that the community remains on high alert.
“ I really want to stress here, as we think about this, that we have seen these dips previously. As mentioned last week we really need to stay vigilant this virus continues to be present,” Christenson says . “It also shows that we have yet to turn the corner, in terms of the number of cases that we are seeing in the community. So it continues to be extremely important that we stay vigilant, that we seek testing when were sick, we stay home when we are sick, and that we wear a mask in public places.”
Beginning Saturday, Gallatin County will be offering antigen testing at the Gallatin County Fairgrounds for individuals who are experiencing symptoms or have a known exposure. If you would like more information on the new testing site you can visit the Gallatin County’s Health website At HealthyGallatin.Org.
There were 1,315 new COVID-19 cases reported Friday, Oct. 8 in Montana, with 12,539 total active cases in the state.
There were nine new deaths reported; the total number of Montanans who have died due to COVID is now 2,079, according to the Montana Department of Public Health & Human Services (DPHHS).
There are nine newly reported deaths all occurred since Sept. 23, 2021: Broadwater (2), Cascade (1), Custer (2), Dawson (1), Hill (1), Lincoln (1), and Yellowstone (1).
The number of people actively hospitalized due to COVID is 463, a decrease from the 465 hospitalizations reported on Thursday. The cumulative number of hospitalizations in Montana due to the virus is 7,998, with the state reporting 69 new hospitalizations since their last report. To date, roughly 1 in 20 (5.04%) reported COVID cases in the state have resulted in hospitalization.
53 percent of eligible residents are now vaccinated, with 493,475 Montanans now considered fully vaccinated. The total number of doses administered is 1,033,867. If you want to get vaccinated, contact your county health department, or click here.
People can visit the DPHHS website at any time for current state data and county-specific information.
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Montana COVID-19 update: 1,315 new cases, nine new deaths reported (Oct. 8)
Yellowstone County reports 340th COVID-related death
Gallatin County reports 73rd COVID-19 death
