Flathead County Reports Nine Additional COVID-19 Deaths
Death toll in July and August at 20; new deaths include three people in their 40s and 50s
By Myers Reece
Flathead County has reported nine new COVID-19 deaths over the last two weeks, bringing its August toll to 14, following six deaths in July.
Three of the new deaths were people in their 40s and 50s, while the rest were in their 70s and 80s.
The county has now experienced 125 total COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic began.
Four of the new deaths were reported last week and five this week, according to the Flathead City-County Health Department. Five of the deaths occurred between Aug. 8 and Aug. 21 but were not reported until the last two weeks. Four deaths occurred last week.
Montana has added 92 COVID-19 deaths in August, raising the state’s total pandemic death toll to 1,800, as of Tuesday. The state has been reporting new deaths on a daily basis this month.
Flathead County had 837 active cases on Tuesday, second most in the state behind Yellowstone County’s 892 cases.
Of the county’s 88,987 residents eligible for the vaccine (ages 12 and up), 42,675 had received at least one dose on Monday. Forty-two percent of the eligible population is fully vaccinated, while the state is now at 50%.
Health Officer Joe Russell said the county continues to see an uptick in first-dose administration, a trend that started in late July. He’s encouraged by the increase but urged people to follow up with the second dose if they are receiving a two-dose vaccine.
“You see a lot of people stop at the first dose,” Russell said.
Russell said the Delta variant, which is driving the current surge, will dissipate eventually, but it’s unknown whether the next variant will be more or less severe. In the meantime, he asks the community to be proactive as the virus strains the health-care system with high numbers of COVID-19 hospitalizations and continuing deaths.
“If people would vaccinate and follow the social distancing and hand hygiene guidelines, I think we could get a handle on the amount of cases we have,” Russell said. “I will continue to state that public-health measures work. We should be implementing them and not let our guard down. Delta will burn through our community at some point, but at what cost?”