BOZEMAN — We can now tell you the name of the man that was the first Gallatin County resident to succumb to COVID-19.
Family members of Bill O’Connor, a longtime elementary school teacher in Livingston who had since moved to Bozeman, say O’Connor died Monday morning after battling the virus for three weeks.
Family members also tell MTN News that O’Connor’s wife Donna had recently recovered from the virus.
O’Connor taught for 30 years and also coached.
He still helped out from time to time at the schools with maintenance.
A GoFundMe page set up for O’Connor’s wife and family has raised more than $10,000; click here if you would to donate.
As of Wednesday morning (April 29), there have been a total of 451 confirmed cases of COVID-19 (coronavirus) in Montana, with no new cases reported since Tuesday. One new death was reported; the person was a Yellowstone County resident. The Yellowstone City-County Health Department in Billings said in a news release: "The man, in his 70s, died in a Yellowstone County hospital." No other details have been released.
- There have been a total of 382 recovered patients to date. The number of recoveries by county has not been released at this point.
- There have been 16 deaths in Montana to date. There have been six deaths in Toole County, two in Cascade County, two in Flathead County, two in Yellowstone County, and one each in Lincoln County, Madison County, Missoula County, and Gallatin County.
- There have now been 61 hospitalizations to date of COVID-19 patients in Montana; 5 of those are "active (current) hospitalizations."
- The DPHHS public health lab has completed 13,528 tests for COVID-19, including 337 tests since Tuesday's update.
- Click here to see the current total of confirmed and active cases by county