GREAT FALLS — The Great Falls Rescue Mission is working with the City-County Health Department to investigate a possible case of COVID-19.
According to the Rescue Mission, at least one person at one of the Rescue Mission's shelters was in quarantine Tuesday.
Rescue Mission officials declined to say which shelter (men, women, or family), or if the person was in quarantine because they were suspected of having the coronavirus.
If the person in question does test positive, Rescue Mission officials said they have a plan.
"We are open, we are not in lockdown. We already have heightened cleaning procedures. If the test results come back positive, we would follow the recommendations of the City-County Health Department," said Carrie Matter, Great Falls Rescue Mission development director.
MTN contacted the CCHD, but they declined to provide any information, citing privacy laws (HIPAA).
There were 321 new cases and three new deaths added to the total on the Montana Response COVID-19 tracking site on Tuesday morning. The data below is from the official Montana website on September 29:
- TOTAL CASES & RECOVERIES: Montana now reports 12,724 cumulative cases statewide, with 9,093 people recovered.
- HOSPITALIZATIONS: The state reports 166 current hospitalizations, and a cumulative total of 709 hospitalizations.
- ACTIVE CASES: The state reports there are currently 3,454 active COVID-19 cases in Montana.
- TESTING: The number of tests increased by 2,730 over the previous 24-hour reporting period, for a new cumulative state-wide total of 339,926.
- DEATHS: The cumulative number of deaths in Montana is at 177, an increase of three since Monday.
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. We encourage people to check the official website and/or Facebook page of their respective county health department for any updates that are not yet included in the state's daily updates.
CASCADE COUNTY: Cascade County has reported a cumulative number of 729 cases, an increase of 28 from yesterday. Of those, 434 are listed as recovered, 290 are currently listed as active, and five people have died. The City-County Health Department in Great Falls provided the following gender and age ranges about the new cases:
- (3) female 0-9
- (1) male 0-9
- (2) male 10-19
- (2) female 20-29
- (2) male 20-29
- (4) female 30-39
- (4) male 30-39
- (1) female 40-49
- (1) male 40-49
- (1) female 50-59
- (3) male 50-59
- (1) female 60-69
- (1) female 70-79
- (1) male 70-79
- (1) female 80-89
The CCHD said in a Facebook post of the recent spike in cases: "We know this is a lot of new cases for our county. We are right around two weeks after Labor Day weekend, so we did expect an increase in case numbers. But we have also received many reports of people with mild illness going to work, school, or even parties/events, despite their symptoms. Please, send people home if they are sick and do not realize on their own that they should self-isolate! Now is not the time to be complacent—let’s work together to keep our schools, businesses, and community functioning smoothly. Stay home, wash your hands, wear a mask, disinfect surfaces." The CCHD said on Tuesday that there were 28 active cases associated with Great Falls Public School; last Thursday evening, they said that there are five new cases associated with GFPS.
Alluvion Health in Great Falls is continuing to offer drive-through COVID-19 testing at Montana ExpoPark. The entrance is along 3rd Street NW. It is located in the Family Living Center until October 1st. The testing is open to anyone - asymptomatic, symptomatic, high risk, and direct contacts. The drive through is open Monday-Friday from 10am-6pm, and Saturday-Sunday 10am-3pm. For more information, call Alluvion at 406-454-6973.
CDC: The federal Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) released data last month which emphasizes that people with contributing or underlying medical conditions are at much greater risk of dying from COVID-19. According to the CDC, an estimated 94% of all COVID-related deaths in the nation were people who had contributing medical conditions and diseases. The CDC report states: "For 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned. For deaths with conditions or causes in addition to COVID-19, on average, there were 2.6 additional conditions or causes per death." The report states that the most common underlying medical conditions that contributed to COVID-related deaths include respiratory diseases such as pneumonia, asthma, and COPD; diabetes; hyptertensive diseases; and heart disease. Click here to learn more on the CDC website.
The CDC also recently released an update to their research into fatality rates associated with COVID-19. A summary of COVID-19 survival rates is shown below; the summary is one of five based on several scenarios. The CDC data and scenarios can be found here.
COVID-19 Survival Rates
- Age 0-19: 99.997%
- Age 20-49: 99.98%
- Age 50-69: 99.5%
- Age 70+: 94.6%
The CDC says the scenarios are intended to advance public health preparedness and planning, and are not predictions or estimates of the expected impact of COVID-19. The parameter values in each scenario will be updated and augmented over time, as the agency learns more about the epidemiology of COVID-19. The update from September 10th is based on data received by the CDC through August 8.
