Governor to extend stay-at-home directive, CDC recommends masks

Havre Daily News staff

Several new actions happened in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic at the end of last week, including the governor saying he will likely extend his stay-at-home directive, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommending people wear masks if they have to leave their homes and Montana State University-Northern saying it would postpone its spring graduation ceremony until next fell.

Gov. Steve Bullock said in a press conference Friday he will be issuing a directive next week extending the stay-at-home directive and other measures he has ordered to try to slow and reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Bullock emphasized the importance of the measures in his stay-at-home directive, and also announced policies to increase food security in Montana during he pandemic.

Bullock said he would be conferring with health officials to determine when would be the appropriate date to lift the order, and will be announcing the extension sometime next week.

His original directive set the expiration date of the stay-at-home order to run through April 10, which also was the extension to previous directives including closing public school buildings and restricting restaurants to providing pickup, drive-through and delivery meals with no in-restaurant dining allowed.

CDC issued its recommendation about face masks because studies have show that people who do not have symptoms or have not yet shown symptoms could be carrying and spreading novel coronavirus 2019, the virus that causes COVID-19.

President Donald Trump announced Friday that because the continued studies by CDC show that a significant number of people with COVID-19 are contagious before they show symptoms of the disease, the CDC is recommending that people wear a face mask in public while still maintaining the 6-foot social distancing guideline.

The masks, the new guideline says, can be made of any household cloth or be as simple as a scarf, but the less daylight can be seen through the material the better. The masks should cover the nose and mouth to help prevent spread of the disease through droplets of saliva and mucous during interactions in public, for example, when speaking, coughing, sneezing or itching ones nose.

The CDC’s exception to the face mask recommendation is for babies and toddlers younger than 2 years who “should not wear a cloth face covering because of concerns that they might suffocate.”

See more on CDC’s guidelines in a story on Page A3.

Northern announced that, because of a directive by Montanan Commissioner of Higher Education Clayton Christian, it would delay its commencement ceremonies and combine them with its fall ceremonies, usually held in December.

See more on Northern’s actions on COVID-19 in a story on this page.

Bullock also announced Friday he is taking actions that will increase the supply of food to Montanans in need during the crisis. See more on this in a story on Page A3.

Novel coronavirus 2019 was first identified in China in December.

Since then it has spread through much of the world, with World Health Organization declaring a pandemic, a global outbreak of a disease, March 11, Bullock declaring a state emergency March 12 and President Donald Trump declaring a national emergency March 13 — the day the first cases of the virus were confirmed in Montana.

This morning, the state map that is updated at 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. daily, available at http://bit.ly/MTCoronavirusMap, showed 299 cases had been confirmed in Montana including one in Hill County and one in Liberty County, with six deaths confirmed.

The map reported 6,798 tests had been completed, and 24 people had been hospitalized, generally including people who were hospitalized before they were tested.

CDC reported this morning 304,826 cases had been confirmed in all 50 U.S. states and District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Northern Marianis and U.S. Virgin Islands and 7,616 deaths had been confirmed.

World Health Organization reported this morning that 1,211,214 cases were confirmed around the wold including 67,666 deaths.