Hill County confirms third COVID-19-related death

Hill County now has confirmed its third COVID-19-related death.

Hill County Health Department reported in a release Sunday that the death was confirmed over the weekend.

The release asked people to do their part to reduce the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19, and reminded people a directive enacted by Gov. Steve Bullock requires people to wear masks when in a public place if the county has four or more active cases. 

People are asked to wear a mask when they can’t socially distance at least six feet away from people not from their household, to frequently wash their hands at least 20 seconds with soap and water or using a hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol, to frequently wash and disinfect surfaces, to avoid going out if they don’t need to and to stay at home if they are feeling ill.

The county also had two more cases confirmed Sunday.

The total in the county as of Sunday was 112 total cases, 19 active and three hospitalized and 90 recovered.

The area saw a surge in confirmed cases starting on July 4, after having no cases reported since March.

Hill and Liberty counties each had one confirmed case in March, with no new confirmations until July.

Since then, the numbers have climbed, off-and-on, with Hill County steadily reporting  a few new cases every day or two.

Rocky Boy Health Center, which is acting as the COVID-19 incident command center for Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation, reports all cases confirmed at the center, which includes some people who live on the reservation and some who do not. The numbers reported by the center are also reported in the total for where the people with COVID-19 live, generally Chouteau or Hill County.

The health center reported three new cases Friday with no new cases reported Saturday or Sunday. Rocky Boy is listed as having 14 cases active on the reservation, with one hospitalization, and 66 recovered cases.

The state’s tracking map lists the daily totals for each county and the number of new cases, although counties are reporting that sometimes the state map does not match the official counts from the counties and the numbers need to be updated.

The map this morning listed Liberty County with no new cases, 15 total with eight active and seven recovered.

Chouteau County had no new cases with 11 total, four active and seven recovered.

Blaine County also had no new cases listed, with 15 total cases, all recovered.

The state map listed a total of 86 new cases confirmed in Montana Sunday, with 9,107 total cases confirmed in the state.

Of those, 2,127 are active cases and 6,842 are recovered.

The state has confirmed a total of 138 COVID-19-related deaths.

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Online: State COVID-19 tracking map, updated 10 a.m. daily, link available at http://covid19.mt.gov

Hill County Health Department Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/hillcountyhealth .

Blaine County Health Department Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/blainecountyhealthdepartment .

Chouteau County Health Department Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Chouteau-County-Health-Department-191027850924298 .

Liberty County Health Department Facebook page is not updated.

Rocky Boy Health Center Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RockyBoyHealthCenter .