Bullock discusses school re-openings, sports and flu season in press conference

Gov. Steve Bullock discussed the re-opening of schools, and of extra-curricular activities at a press conference Thursday afternoon in which he encouraged people to continue listening to local public health and taking collective responsibility for keeping others safe from novel coronavirus 2019.

“I know that these first days of school are much different from last year. But I also know that Montana’s kids and teachers are remarkable. And over the past six months, they’ve become even more resilient, adaptable and committed to one of the core values of Montana, which is caring for others,” he said. “… I recognize that going back to school this year is not happening under the most ideal circumstances, and I recognize as a father of three kids … but we don’t live in an ideal world with the pandemic still in our midst.”

Bullock, a Democrat, cannot run for re-election due to term limits and is running for the U.S. Senate, facing incumbent Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Wendie Fredrickson, who is running as a Green Party candidate although the Green Party told the Havre Daily News they have no affiliation with her or the PAC supporting her.

Bullock said the American Academy of Pediatrics advises that students learn best with in-person instruction and recently put out guidance saying the schools must open, but with great caution and careful planning, and he agrees.

He said he still believes that re-opening plans are not one-size fits all, and school districts have been working hard to address the unique needs of their respective areas.

While he has issued directives, Bullock said, he has tried to allow flexibility for counties to address their specific needs, especially if they feel the need for more restrictive measures.

As examples, he cited counties that had mask directives before he issued his own state-wide directive, and that some communities still have stay-at-home orders due to their unique circumstances.

He encouraged use of social distancing, wearing masks, maintaining hand hygiene and staying home when sick, as universal actions that will help in combatting the pandemic.

Bullock said education is a great equalizer for students who come from all kinds of backgrounds, tribal, urban, rural and so on, and the efforts of local public health and citizens doing their part will be able to keep those institutions open.

“School provides more than just academics, it’s where they learn social and emotional skills, and were they can access mental health support,” he said. “For many parents, school is where their kids get access to health meals, internet and other services, and for some kids is a safe haven from difficult circumstances at home.”

He said extracurricular activities like sports are also important to Montanans and himself, which is why his office has tried to encourage communication between public health and educational institutions.

“Some of the happiest moment I’ve had over these past eight years have been when I was viewed in the stands not a governor, but as the proud parent of a player,” he said. “I know how much these activities mean to our kids and our parents. That’s why I brought local public health, the Montana high school association and athletic directors together so they can develop and implement appropriate safety protocols to allow kids to engage in activities like Fall sports.”

Bullock said he understands why people can be frustrated when local public health mandates no in-person spectators for sports events, but asked people to trust their local health officials and let them protect their communities even if it means more restrictions.

He said public health is made up of professionals with academic credentials and a duty to protect the public from the spread of communicable disease, which they have experience with beyond the pandemic.

“They’ve been boots on the ground protecting their communities long before COVID-19 existed,” he said.

Bullock said there is an encouraging trend observed in the state in the past month with cases exponentially rising in June, but only growing linearly in July, and now leveling off.

He said Montana was removed from a number of states’ quarantine lists, and said Philips County, which only recently had a major outbreak, is now down to five active cases due to their efforts and recently Moody’s ranked Montana fourth in the nation for economic recovery amid the pandemic.

However, Bullock said, while this may be a cause for optimism, it is not a cause for complacency, and it shouldn’t allow people to lose sight of the fact that 100 Montanans have died of COVID-19.

He said he knows the fatigue that Montanans feel when it comes to the pandemic, but said things are not going to be over just yet.

“As sick as we are of the virus, as over it as we might be, the virus isn’t (over) yet,” he said.

Bullock also addressed new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance that says asymptomatic close contacts of people with COVID-19 don’t need to be tested, which has garnered significant pushback from health experts around the U.S. including, Bullock said, in Montana.

“It makes no sense to me, the new CDC guidelines, and to be candid, nor does it to any of the people in the public health community that I’ve been speaking with,” he said.

Bullock said the state is going to continue trying to ramp up asymptomatic testing in the coming weeks and hopes to prevent further outbreaks.

“We’re a relatively low-incident state, and we can prevent large outbreaks by continuing to test asymptomatic contacts and finding cases earlier,” he said.

State Medical Officer Greg Holzman said he’s hopeful for more rapid testing on the federal level for nursing homes’ employees and residents, so public health can act quickly when cases are found to contact trace.

“Some of our nursing homes, they can do everything right, but if the disease is in the community the chance of it getting into one of these facilities is a lot higher, and one of the best ways to protect everyone in the whole community. We need to continue to look at this as a public health response, and work as a public to bring down those numbers of cases,” he said.

Bullock also talked about the upcoming flu season and said many of the same things people do to combat COVID-19 can be used for flu season.

He said CDC recommends that anyone older than 6 months get flu vaccine annually and encouraged Montanans to follow that recommendation as the state prepares to for flu season.

Bullock said that a week ago the United States Department of Health and Human Services announced an amendment to their declaration under the Emergency Readiness and Preparedness Act authorizing state-licensed pharmacists to order and administer vaccines to individuals age 3 to 18 in all 50 states.

He said pharmacists have asked him to make a directive consistent with that requirement, and he agreed.

He said this will increase the number of people who can give out the vaccine which is especially important now that both parents and students will be busy with the school year and their work.

He said, this year, prevention is particularly important because hospitals need as much space as possible to deal with COVID-19.

Bullock also provided an update on the Lost Wages Assistance Program which he said the Montana Department of Labor and Industry has been using to issuing enhanced unemployment benefits of $400 since Wednesday.

He said this money is especially important for people in Montana and the state’s larger economy.

“When people have more money in their pockets to spend at the grocery or shopping at the main street businesses, we are protecting the progress we’ve already made towards economic recovery,” he said.

However, he said, this benefit is only temporary, and funding can only last for several weeks depending on the participation of other states and Congress needs to get back to work to solve this problem in a more long-term fashion.

Bullock said Montana has received four weeks of funding but will be applying for more down the road.

Montana Commissioner of Labor and Industry Brenda Nordlund talked about an increase unemployment claims in the two weeks, and said there are concerns with fraudulent claims being made under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

“We haven’t done an analysis of that yet, but I can tell you, looking at the (Pandemic Unemployment Assistance) claims independent from the regular UI claims, we do believe the extra $400 is driving some of that activity,” she said. “But we also believe that a large percentage of those claims are fraudulent. … However, I don’t think that is the case at all in regular UI.”

Nordlund said she couldn’t provide a number of claims thought to be fraudulent, but did provide why she thinks the problem is significant.

“We might see 90 claims filed, and 43 to 60 of those are from out of state,” she said. “So that’s an indication, I think, of fraud.”

She said the reason for this recent influx of suspicious claims is a result of loose self-certification requirements for the self-employed and independent contractors under PUA issued by the federal government.

She said she thinks the increase in regular unemployment claims is likely a result of outbreaks in businesses and don’t have any significant fraud issues.

Bullock also responded to accusations recently made by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Elise Arntzen who has claimed in a number of letters that there is a lack of communication between Office of Public Instruction and the Governor’s Office.

Bullock said he finds this accusation incorrect, somewhat bizarre and said she appears to be confused.

He said Arntzen has participated in meetings with his education policy advisor, chief of staff and budget director and has had the opportunity to meet with his staff every week.

Bullock said his staff is often dealing with multiple requests from members of her office and she’s often refused to provide input when asked.

He also said the process has been slowed down by a request that all communications go directly through Arntzen, which has made things challenging.

Bullock’s Press Secretary Marissa Perry said in an email to the Havre Daily News July 30, when Arntzen issued an editorial saying OPI had been shut out of the process, that the governor’s office has been in contact with OPI during every step of the re-opening process.

“The governor’s staff has been participating in a weekly call with Superintendent Arntzen and OPI,” the email said. “The governors budget office staff work almost daily with OPI staff. We’ve communicated with them about plans to direct $65 million to schools, worked with them on a plan to distribute $10 million in transportation funding, and recently received a briefing together from (Disaster and Emergency Services) on how (personal protective equipment) will be distributed to schools. Just this week, the governor’s chief of staff was on the phone with the superintendent to arrange a meeting for (July 31) to walk through any outstanding questions.”