HELENA — Montana has surpassed 5,000 known cases of COVID-19 and has reported 75 deaths, officials said Monday.
The state reported 261 cases over the weekend, including 65 on Monday, bringing the total known cases to 5,017. The number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested and studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.
Two more residents of long-term care facilities in Billings recently died from COVID-19, Yellowstone County officials said Saturday.
A woman in her 80s who had lived at Canyon Creek Memory Care died in the hospital on Aug. 4. Hers was the 16th death tied to an outbreak at the facility. A man in his 90s died on Aug. 5 at a senior living facility that county officials did not identify.
Eighty people are hospitalized with the respiratory virus, including 44 in Yellowstone County, health department spokesperson Barbara Schneeman said Saturday.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some — especially older adults and people with existing health problems — it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.