Hill County sees COVID-19 spread slow

Hill County Public Health Director and Health Officer Kim Larson said the area has seen a notable decrease in COVID-19 spread, and people need to make sure that continues.

Larson said Friday during the weekly Hill County Board of Health COVID-19 update that as of 10 a.m. Friday, Hill County had 124 active cases of COVID-19 and the department was keeping track of 111 people in quarantine.

She said the rate of spread in Hill County appears to be falling, a trend she hopes will continue.

“I think it’s a real positive,” she said. “I think the community should be happy about that. We just gotta keep it up and keep those numbers coming down. But we’re looking pretty good for the last couple of weeks.”

While she said she didn’t have data to back it up, Larson suspects that this drop in cases is due to increased community engagement with mitigation efforts.

“I think people are doing a better job of not having large gatherings, and social distancing and, hopefully, wearing their face coverings,” she said.

Larson said contact tracing has been going well with new hires allowing the department to keep up with demand more easily.

She did, however, say the county’s positivity rate is still troublingly high and people need to keep being vigilant.

She said the health officer order she put in place Nov. 4 expired Dec. 4, and she didn’t re-sign it, because the governor’s recent public health order mimicked it almost exactly, so there was no need.

Larson said the governor’s order is in place until the end of the declared emergency, but that may well change with the new administration in January.

Vaccine incoming

Larson, said the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine should be in the state this week, and will be given to front-line health care workers and long-term care facilities.

She said CVS is handling distribution of the Pfizer vaccine to local long-term care facilities and that distribution should be underway by the end of the year.

She said CVS can store the Pfizer vaccine, which requires being held at minus 70 degrees Celsius, or about minus 90 Fahrenheit.

Many locations in Montana can support that low temperature, Larson said, and the box the vaccine comes in can keep it at the proper temperature for 30 days as long as the dry ice is switched out properly.

She said the state has been working on a plan for distribution of the vaccine with 10 of Montana’s largest hospitals getting the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

She said Montana should have 60,000 doses by the end of the year with the Moderna vaccine, hopefully, getting emergency FDA approval this week.

Larson said rural areas of Montana will likely see more of the Moderna vaccine because it’s far easier to transport, store and distribute, not requiring the same level of cold to keep viable, and capable of being shipped in smaller package sizes.

The county health department likely won’t be directly involved in distribution until the vaccine goes out to the general public in the spring she said.

She said planning for that has begun and will resemble distribution for the influenza vaccine which the department has done in the past.

Hill County Health Board Member Kristi Kline said people in the community will be turning to the health department for answers to their questions regarding the vaccine and it’s eventual distribution.

Larson said the department is prepared to provide education to the public, and the state health department is creating a campaign to educate people about vaccine, but she is waiting to hear back regarding details.

However, she said, there are still some unknowns regarding both vaccines that she expects will be clarified in the near future.

She said people likely have questions such as, if they had COVID when or should they get the vaccine, or if they have to quarantine if they got the vaccine but are identified as a close contact.

Larson said answers to these questions will come likely via guidance from the FDA or similar organizations and she will keep people apprised of the situation as more information comes in.

She said, at the moment, the Pfizer vaccine is only allowed to be given to people 16 or more years old, though that recommendation may change as more data comes in.

Other officials provide updates

Hill County Sanitarian-in-Training Will Lorett said his department is continuing spot checks of businesses to ensure compliance with the governor’s public health mandates.

He said they looked at another 11 or 12 businesses last week with similar results to the previous week.

He said, for the most part, they’ve gotten positive feedback on these checks.

Bullhook Community Health Center CEO Kyndra Hall said testing at her facility is proceeding as planned and their partnership with the health department is going well.

Hill County Attorney Karen Alley was not able to be on the call, but her report indicated no major developments worth mentioning.

None of the Hill County Commissioners appeared to attend the meeting.

The next COVID-19 update will be Dec. 18 at 1 p.m.