Missoula County votes on COVID-19 restrictions



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UPDATE

Missoula City Health Council voted to adopt changes to existing COVID-19 restrictions in a virtual meeting held Thursday afternoon as cases of COVID-19 continue to rise in the community.

10 days notice will be required for events and gatherings and also clarifies capacity limits at retail stores, gymnasiums and gathering places. In addition, some county requirements are brought into line with Gov. Steve Bullock’s recent tighter restrictions.

Ellen Leahy, Missoula County Public Health Officer, opened the meeting by discussing trends and statistics for COVID-19. Leahy said the daily incidence of new cases has improved over the past three days while the transmission rate has also improved.

She added that an “alarming rate” is the test positivity rate is above 18%, against 12% last week.

Testing has expanded to seven days a week, and around 170 tests are performed per day. Leahy also noted that cases of Covid-19 are still weekend of being migrated to the new tracking system in Montana.

The availability of the hospital in Missoula is better than in most states, according to Leahy.

Those responsible for public health report having received about 1000 emails and 30 phone calls this week about the proposal. The general feeling of comment according to the presentation showed that around 70% expressed support for the proposal.

In addition, public comments have shown that people are concerned about public health and want to balance these concerns with the financial and economic worries.

Requests for events of more than 250 people – including the annual Parade of Lights, Thanksgiving Goodfellows dinner, winter markets, and sporting events – are still being reviewed by the Department of Health.

– information from Katie Miller and Mark Thorsell included in this report.



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