Region deals with a year of a deadly virus

Vaccine for the virus that causes COVID-19 is arriving in the area at a time when people appear to have taken actions to slow the spread of the virus following surges over the summer and a massive surge in the fall.

But officials are warning people that it may be months before the vaccine is available for much of the general population, and they need to continue following recommendations - wearing masks in public settings, avoiding large gatherings, staying home as much as possible, regularly washing their hands, cleaning and disinfecting surfaces and staying home if they are ill - to keep the spread down.

The vaccine is being distributed in phases to people in the highest risk categories first, with Gov. Steve Bullock releasing Wednesday an updated detailed list of the distribution.

See related story in this edition of Havre Daily News.

But the slowing of the spread, and the distribution of the vaccine, comes after a wild year of a deadly disease infecting nearly 83 million people and killing a number closing in on two million people worldwide and shuttering businesses, economies and social activities.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this morning that nearly 19.5 million people in the United States have been infected - almost 200,000 new cases listed this morning - and 337,419 people in the U.S. have died, with 3,390 new deaths listed this morning.

Montana lists more than 80,000 confirmed cases and is closing in on 1,000 COVID-19-related deaths.

The pandemic has caused great strife as well as illness and death, with the medical field struggling to learn about and contain a new disease, contrary messages and misinformation regularly distributed since the disease was first discovered.

A new virus

The disease was first discovered in Wuhan Province in China last December, and the next few months led to confusion on what was going on and what the disease it caused was and what needed to be done.

Research indicates that the virus, originally called novel coronavirus 2019 and now referred to as SARS-CoV-2, originated in bats and became able to transmit to humans.

As the study of the disease progressed, it was found to be much more transmittable and much more deadly than many viruses such as influenza.

As the disease started spreading from China to other parts of the world, concern continued to increase but conflicting messages were also continuing to come out.

By March, a consistent message that the disease was deadly and highly contagious was coming from the medical community including the U.S. CDC and National Institutes of Health and World Health Organization, but some conflicting statements sill were coming out and opposition to the messages also were arising.

By April, a a general agreement among medical professionals and organizations had come out that, to slow the spread of the virus, people needed to stay home as much as possible, avoid large gatherings, wear cloth masks when out in public, regularly wash hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and water or use hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol, and to stay home in quarantine or isolation if ill or exposed to the virus.

Montana takes action

World Health Organization declared a global pandemic - a disease which spreads rapidly affecting many countries and a large number of people - March 11.

The U.S. response had been - and in many ways continued to be - erratic, but by March 13, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency. Criticism arose over the nation's preparedness and action in providing resources such as personal protective equipment to people dealing with the disease, particularly in hot spots like New York, which soon was strained near to its limit in dealing with COVID-19.

Trump, and others in his administration, have also been criticized for actions including contradicting recommendations from health agencies and organizations including CDC and NIH and for promoting and spreading misinformation about the illness and its treatment.

Montana acted before Trump's declaration.

March 12, Commissioner of Higher Education Clayton Christian directed all campuses of the Montana University System to switch to remote or online learning, effectively closing their classrooms.

Later that day, Gov. Steve Bullock declared an emergency in Montana, a day before Trump declared the national emergency.

And local jurisdictions were taking action on their own.

March 13, after a possible COVID-19 case was detected and tested in Hill County, Northern Montana Health Care closed its facilities to visitors.

Later that day, it opened its Flu Clinic to be used for testing and triage of possible COVID-19 and influenza patients.

That day, the first two Montana cases were confirmed. The next day, Christian, two days after issuing his orders on the university system, was confirmed to have contracted COVID-19.

The day after that, Sunday, March 14, Bullock, ordered all public K-12 schools to close for two weeks - Havre Public Schools had announced before Bullock's directive was released that its campuses were closing.

March 24, Bullock extended his school closure to at least April 10 and issued a stay-at-home directive and ordered businesses listed as non-essential closed.

The first case in Hill County - which would remain its only case till July - was confirmed March 25.

Liberty County's first case was also confirmed in March and remained its only case for months.

Blaine and Chouteau counties had no confirmed cases for the first months of the state emergency.

Montana remained one of the states with the lowest rate of confirmations and of deaths for months.

The state entered Phase One of reopening April 26, with businesses allowed to reopen with restrictions on capacity and social distancing.

It entered Phase Two June 1, with loosened restrictions still in place.

Numbers climbing

The number of confirmed cases skyrocketed after the state went into Phase 2 of the reopening plan.

Those numbers continued to surge through the fall as a major wave hit the state, including this part of north-central Montana, in October and November.

This part of the state stayed at its two cases confirmed in March, one in Hill County and one in Liberty County, to the start of July, with no new cases confirmed in April, May or June.

May 1, the state reported 453 total cases confirmed with 16 COVID-19-related deaths, with no new cases confirmed in the May 1 update.

By June 1, the state had confirmed 519 total cases with 41 active cases, two active hospitalizations and 17 deaths by that date and four new cases confirmed.

By July 1, one month into Phase 2 of the reopening, the state number of confirmed cases had nearly doubled to 1,019 with and the daily number skyrocketed, with 50 new cases confirmed July 1, 14 active hospitalizations and 22 deaths reported.

Numbers surge locally

Hill and Blaine counties saw numbers grow from July through September, including numbers of deaths.

Hill County had its second confirmed case of COVID-19 - the first since the initial case was announced March 25 - Saturday, July 4.

By Monday, July 7, five more cases were confirmed, bringing the county total to seven with six active cases.

By July 12, that number had more than doubled with Hill County reporting 14 total cases, 13 active.

Blaine County confirmed its first case July 14.

By Aug. 1, Hill County reported 41 cases, 22 active, with no new cases listed that day, and Blaine County reported a new case Aug. 2, taking its total to nine cases, two active.

And the numbers had exploded across the state. Monday, Aug. 3, the state tracking map reported 60 new cases and the total had quadrupled to 4,233 cases confirmed in Montana with 64 deaths.

The numbers continued to grow, including deaths.

Hill County confirmed its first two COVID-19-related deaths Aug. 6, and Blaine County reported its first COVID-19-related death Oct. 9.

By Sept. 1, Hill County reported 90 cases with 37 active including four hospitalizations and Blaine County reported 15 cases with none active.

By that time, Liberty and Chouteau counties, which have been spotty in their numbers reporting, also had more cases. The state tracking map reported Liberty County had three cases, all recovered, with no deaths, and Chouteau County had 11 cases with one active case and no deaths.

The state reported 93 new cases that day, 7,509 total - not quite doubling the August total - with 1,945 active cases and 105 deaths.

During September, Northern Montana Care Center also reported cases confirmed in staff members and residents at the long-term care center.

By Oct. 1, the state numbers again had almost doubled from a month earlier, with 429 new cases, 13,500 total, 3,891 active cases, 178 active hospitalizations and 181 deaths.

Hill County reported seven new cases that day, with 193 total, 50 active, one active hospitalization and three deaths.

Blaine County reported four new cases, 39 total, 21 active and one active hospitalization.

Chouteau County had one new case, 32 total, 11 active, and Liberty county had no new cases, 20 total and one active.

And by Oct. 29, Sweet Home in Chinook also had reported cases, with the long-term care center saying it had three cases in residents, three cases in staff members and had one COVID-19-related death.

The surge continued through November.

By Nov. 2, The state had a then-one-day-record 1,063 cases Oct. 31, with the state total breaking 33,000 over the weekend.

Hill County's numbers climbed to 897 cases, 295 active, 22 active hospitalizations and 23 deaths.

Blaine County reported 362 cases, 125 active with 15 hospitalizations and eight deaths.

And cases related to local school districts were being confirmed, with some districts going back into distanced learning and others that had never come out of that mode keeping their classrooms closed.

More restrictions

The Hill County Health Department had announced in November that unless the number of new cases dropped significantly - it set a rate of an average of 50 cases per 100,000 per day, or about eight a day for Hill County - it would impose new restrictions. 

At that time, Hill County's average rate was more than double the goal.

By the start of November, the rate had not hit the goal and the health department imposed the new restrictions.

About a week later, Bullock imposed statewide directives on increased restrictions, much the same as Hill County's with a couple of additional restrictions, such as bars and casinos having to close by 10 p.m.

Health officials also expressed great concern that the holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas, could cause a major surge if people gathered in large groups.

The numbers continued to grow through November, though by the end of the month the growth started to slow.

By Dec. 1, the state numbers had again nearly doubled, with 62,205 total cases, 16,157 active, 495 hospitalizations and 698 deaths.

Hill County had reported 1,354 cases, 249 active with 10 hospitalizations and 31 deaths and Blaine County reported 524 total cases, 33 active with three hospitalizations and 19 deaths.

And the numbers, and deaths, had grown in Chouteau and Liberty counties as well.

The state system Dec. 1 reported Chouteau County with 276 total cases, 35 active and three deaths, while Liberty County had 93 total cases, 25 active and one death.

Numbers slow but continue to rise

The potential surge following Thanksgiving apparently didn't happen, at least in this part of north-central Montana, and the rate of new cases in most of the local counties - and the state - seems to have dropped off in December.

While no direct cause can be established, the reduced rate has followed local and state increased restrictions, and continued pleas for people to follow the recommendations to slow the spread of the virus, pointing to the surge and growing number of deaths from August through November.

By Wednesday, the number of total cases in the state had grown to 81,300 with 629 new cases confirmed Tuesday, compared to the 1,629 new cases confirmed Nov. 14. The number of active cases Wednesday had dropped to 5,380 with 223 hospitalizations.

Nov. 20, the state peaked at 20,780 active cases with 482 active hospitalizations.

The growth numbers have slowed significantly for Blaine and Hill counties, with Blaine County reporting one new case Wednesday and no new cases Tuesday, while Hill County - which topped out the daily number of new cases Oct. 8 at 34 - reported 10 new cases Wednesday and eight Tuesday, with fewer than five new cases a day on several days in the last few weeks.

Blaine County's highest number of new daily confirmations was 20 in early October.

Today's state update lists Liberty County with 101 cases, three active, and Chouteau County with 371 cases, 23 active.

But the number of deaths, which lags behind the confirmed case numbers, continues to grow. The state Wednesday today 961 COVID-19-related deaths, with Hill County reporting 37, Blaine County reporting 23 and the state map listing one for Liberty County and four for Chouteau County.

And other regions of the United States - and the rest of the world - continue to see major surges in numbers of new cases and deaths.

Pleading to slow the spread

Local, state, federal and international officials pleaded with people to follow recommendations to slow the spread of the virus as new waves occurred.

The recommendations met with - and still are meeting - opposition, although reduced numbers locally and in most parts of Montana seem to indicate more people are following them.

Locally, a chapter of a group organized by anti-government militant activist Ammon Bundy, People's Rights, formed to protest what they called violations of their constitutional rights, and used the meetings to spread misinformation about the recommendations.

Protests, including court filings, continue over Bullock's directives, although state courts so far have ruled against the filings and The U.S. Supreme Court has for almost 200 years ruled that the 10th Amendment to the U.S.

Constitution allows state and local governments to take actions, like requiring quarantines or shutting down or limiting businesses, to protect public health and safety during an emergency.

The situation has taken a new turn with former Vice President Joe Biden, a Democrat who supports taking actions to slow the spread of the virus, winning the presidential election and U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont., who has said he prefers personal responsibility to mandates and has hinted he may relax some of Bullock's mandates, winning the election to become Montana's next governor.

Causes of the surge and the slowing of the surge

Health officials have not been able to pinpoint the exact causes of the fall surge in the area.

Hill County Public Health Director and Health Officer Kim Larson has told Havre Daily News that no specific locations seem to have caused the increase here, but people not following recommendations and large gatherings of people, as well as the disease hitting enclosed communities like Northern Montana Care Center, were large causes of the surge.

Blaine and Hill counties each have extremely high mortality rates due to the illness, although a large number of cases and deaths in high-risk populations have occurred.

Northern Montana Health Care had not by printing deadline this morning responded to a request for an exact count on how many residents at the center had died of COVID-19-related causes, although it reported that the last time a resident was confirmed to have the disease was Oct. 19, the last staff member testing positive was Nov. 25 and the last ancillary staff member testing positive was Dec. 10.

From information provided to families of residents, deaths of residents account for some 40 percent of Hill County's 37 deaths.

The number of cases and deaths at reservations, also high-risk areas, also skews the numbers.

A release from Western Native Voice and We Are Montana said that 30 percent of COVID-19-related deaths are among Native Americans despite their being 7 percent of Montana's population.

The situation is also complicated by Rocky Boy's and Fort Belknap Indian reservations crossing county boundaries, meaning data reported on the reservations also is reported in the person's county of residence, but cannot be listed in that fashion by the reservation to avoid identifying the people involved, as per state and federal health privacy laws.

Rocky Boy Health Center Wednesday reported it had confirmed a total of 750 cases since the emergency began, but the center had not responded by printing deadline this morning to requests for information on how many confirmed cases had ended in COVID-19-related deaths. The health center has not been listing deaths on the updates posted on its Facebook page.

Sweet Home posted on its Facebook page the end of November that it had 20 residents with COVID-19, 18 of whom had recovered at that time, and eight COVID-19-related deaths. It reported 17 staff members had tested positive, and another tested positive in early December.

The Fort Belknap Indian Community reported Wednesday evening that 351 cases had been confirmed on Fort Belknap Indian Reservation and that the cases had resulted in 12 deaths.

And pinpointing the reason the surge has slowed is difficult, but, again, the case numbers did start to drop a few weeks after Hill County - and Bullock - implemented new restrictions, and after weeks of increased efforts to publicize the number of cases and deaths due to the disease and to urge people to follow recommendations to slow the spread.