HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – The Hill County Board of Health met virtually on Friday afternoon to provide the latest update on how COVID-19 is impacting the area.
The Board disussed an upcoming Special Board of Health Meeting set for March 15th at noon. The meeting was called by Commissioner Mark Peterson in order to discuss, “how we fit into the Governor’s directive.”
This comes after the Health Board approved a mask mandate at a February 18th meeting. The mandate was supposed to be in place for 90 days, although the Board would be allowed to reassess if Hill County’s case rate is below 10 per 100,000 people per day for two consecutive weeks. That equates to about 1.5 cases per day.
However, the official Health Officer order has not been issued. Peterson says this issue will be further discussed at Monday’s meeting.
From this Monday through Thursday, Hill County posted exactly 1.5 per day per 100,000 people. This comes after the County case rate was just below 20 per 100,000 people per day last week.
In terms of vaccine distribution, Hill County has received their first allotment of the recently approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and doses have already been administered by local pharmacies and Northern Montana Hospital. This is a one dose vaccine, and Health Officer Kim Larson says they expect to receive another shipment later this month.
The next virtual COVID-19 update is scheduled for March 26th at 1 PM.
The Hill County Health Department urges any county resident interested in receiving a COVID-19 vaccine to contact them by phone at 400-2369. They will contact you when your phase comes up.
