HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – 59 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Hill County residents for the week that spanned July 19th through July 25th.
This is the most new cases in a single reporting period since the Health Department moved to weekly updates in late March.
The previous mark came in late June, when 57 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the span of a week
Hill County Health Officer Kim Berg says that the new BA.5 Omicron subvariant that is making the rounds appears to be more contagious but generally less severe than others.
“People don’t know if they have COVID or are struggling with allergies, or if it is the wildfire smoke that is coming in that is affecting them. So I would just say that if people test at home, still go on to our website and report that to us. We do have resources on our website on the COVID-19 page for anyone that is a close contact and recommendations on what to do during that situation.”
COVID testing remains available at the flu clinic at Northern Montana Health Care, and at-home tests are available at many pharmacies in the area. Free tests can be mailed through a program from the federal government.
Berg says contact tracing continues to go well. The Health Department moved to a more automated form of contact tracing earlier this year to help lower the burden on their staff.
“Brandi (Williams), our Disease Intervention Specialist, is working on it. And we have one other person that is assisting her at this time. And they are staying on top of it.”
Many of the newly reported cases are already considered recovered, as the active case count stood at 31 as of Monday night, with no hospitalizations. The Health Department says that individuals often test later in their infection and meet criteria to be recovered by the time they make their weekly post.
Blaine County
Blaine County is also seeing an increase in COVID-19 activity, as they reported 21 new COVID-19 cases between July 23rd and 25th.
Their active case count is at 39, with no hospitalizations.
Their Health Department urges the public to continue taking precautions such as covering coughs and sneezes and washing hands frequently to help slow the spread.
