Over the past couple months, COVID has hit hard in Montana, bringing overloaded hospitals, the pandemic's youngest deaths and the year's deadliest month. It's a lot to process. Here are some of the most important developments you need to know about.
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“Everybody is hard-up for concentrators. We have never run into this kind of shortage. We’ve been sending people home with these oxygen concentrators in record numbers and it’s stressed our supply.” -
COVID-19 hospitalizations in Montana hit an all-time high Wednesday, with 510 people needing hospital care due to the coronavirus. Public health and medical experts say the delta variant has made people sicker, and more COVID patients have landed in intensive care units.
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According to the state health department, 191 people died in September of COVID-related complications, topping January’s death count. The pandemic shows no sign of slowing in Montana.
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At the same time Montana hospitals are seeing record numbers of Covid patients, county health officers are resigning or being forced out by elected officials who don't follow public health guidance.
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Officials of St. Peter's Health in Helena said three public officials threatened doctors after they refused to treat a COVID-19 patient with ivermectin, a drug to treat parasites that is not federally approved to treat the respiratory disease,
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As COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations decline across the country, the pandemic in Montana has continued to get worse. The average number of hospitalizations grew by nearly 40% over the past month. Health care workers are trying to keep up, and some are pushing the state to do more to help.
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COVID-19 cases in K-12 schools are higher now than they were at the same time last year. On Wednesday, the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services released its weekly report on the number of COVID-19 cases in K-12 schools.
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September has been the deadliest month of the current coronavirus wave fueled by the delta variant and has been over twice as deadly compared to September last year.
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Montana hospitals and clinics are tightening their visitation policies to protect patients and staff as cases of the delta variant continue to mount. Officials at a Helena hospital say frustrated visitors are leading to unprecedented levels of hostility directed at staff.
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There are over 10,000 active COVID-19 cases in Montana. The state reached that milestone Wednesday. Public health officials and experts say the latest outbreak is fueled by the Delta variant. MTPR’s Freddy Monares and Aaron Bolton looked into what Montana can expect to come next.
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Billings Clinic in Montana is past the tipping point as it looks for places to add intensive care unit beds and is on the cusp of rationing care to deal with the surge of sick covid patients in a state with significant anti-vaccination sentiment.
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Two dozen Montana National Guard personnel arrive in Missoula next week to help the county handle what officials say is its deteriorating COVID situation.
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Dr. Shelly Harkins, the president and chief medical officer of Helena’s Saint Peter’s Health made this sobering announcement Thursday morning: “For the first time in my career we are at the point where not every patient in need will get the care we might wish we could give.”
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As COVID-19 cases surge, hospitals say they can’t get enough staff to keep up. Gov. Greg Gianforte’s administration says it’s collaborating with hospitals as needs arise.
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County health officials expect the community’s viral surge, largely driven by unvaccinated young adults, will soon reach troubling new heights.
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Missoula Health officials Friday announced the county’s first COVID-related death of a young adult. Forty local patients are hospitalized with COVID-19, which is just shy of the record set last November.
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Yellowstone County Tuesday reached 300 cumulative COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic. The latest deaths include a woman in her 20s with no underlying conditions, the youngest Yellowstone County resident to die from the coronavirus.
