COVID update for the week of January 6

On Thursday, 12/31/20, The Phillips County Health Department reported four new positive cases of COVID-19. Phillips County currently has 16 active cases, with 432 cases reported since the virus was first detected in Phillips County. Of these, 404 people have recovered, and 12 residents have been lost to the disease or from COVID related illnesses. The mask mandate remains in effect for Phillips County.

On Monday, January 4, Hi-Line Retirement Center reports that out of 41 residents, 25 have recovered while six are still testing negative. There have been eight deaths due to COVID-19. At the Assisted Living Facility, 10 out of the 13 residents have fallen ill with the disease, with all of them considered recovered and no active cases at this time. The other three residents continue to test negative.

The nursing home also reports that 36 (out of 55 employees) have contracted and recovered from the disease and 19 staff members continue to receive negative test results. Five of the eight members of the Assisted Living staff have contracted it. Four have recovered, and one staff member is currently isolated at home with an active infection.

Montana’s COVID-19 dashboard site states that there are 5,056 known active cases statewide on Monday, January 4. There have been 82,664 total cases of COVID-19, with 76,633 people having recovered. An additional 288 cases have been reported since Sunday. 191 Montanans are currently hospitalized with the virus, with a total of 3,650 since the beginning of the pandemic. 975 Montanans have died of the virus.

Johns Hopkins University of Medicine’s Vaccine Tracker reports that 16,900 doses have been administered in Montana, with 13,900 of those provided on December 30.

The U.S. leads the world in the number of coronavirus related fatalities, having lost more than 350,000 Americans. Currently, 2,600 people on average have died each day for the past week. Only three other countries have recorded more than 100,000 deaths: India, Brazil, and Mexico.