GREAT FALLS — The Cascade City-County Health Department in Great Falls said on Tuesday afternoon that it has identified an outbreak of six COVID-19 cases in connection with a long-term care facility in Cascade County.
Due to federal privacy regulations (HIPAA), the CCHD will not release the name of the facility or any other details at this time. Similar situations occurred at such facilities in both Shelby and in Billings; in both of those cases, the facilities issued public statements about their situations.
The CCHD said in a news release that the virus that causes COVID-19 is known to be particularly dangerous to older adults and other vulnerable populations in long-term care settings. CCHD is working with the facility in which the outbreak occurred to determine and activate appropriate strategies for containing and preventing further spread of COVID-19.
“Events like these, sadly, remind us that COVID-19 is still here and we still need to be vigilant in our prevention efforts. CCHD and all of our healthcare partners in Cascade County are doing everything in their power to contain this disease—please help us keep our community, especially our vulnerable population, safe,” said Trisha Gardner, the Cascade County Health Officer.
Montana added 82 new cases to the total on the Montana Response COVID-19 tracking map on Tuesday morning. Numbers reported by the state each day occasionally differ from those reported by county public health departments due to periodic lag times in reporting data to the state. The data below is from the official Montana website on August 4th:
- TOTAL CASES & RECOVERIES: Montana now reports 4,314 cumulative cases statewide, with 2,766 people recovered.
- HOSPITALIZATIONS: There are currently 70 patients hospitalized. There have been 238 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
- ACTIVE CASES: The state reports there are currently 1,484 active COVID-19 cases in Montana.
- TESTING: The number of tests increased by 1,728 over the previous 24-hour reporting period, for a new cumulative state-wide total of 181,236.
- DEATHS: The cumulative number of deaths in Montana is now at 64.
The official state database reported the following information for Cascade County on Tuesday morning:
- Active (current) Cases: 54
- Patients Recovered: 98
- Total Deaths: 2
- Cumulative Cases: 154
Here are the ages and gender of the 154 total cases:
Age Female Male
0 - 9: 1 1
10-19: 8 4
20-29: 21 24
30-39: 5 14
40-49: 12 11
50-59: 12 8
60-69: 7 14
70-79: 2 6
80-89: 2 2