Hill County Health Department releases draft of Health Officer Order

Editor’s note: This version corrects the number of cases confirmed in Hill County Monday evening.

The Hill County Health Department released Monday the draft of a health officer order set to go into effect Nov. 4 should the county’s rate of infection for COVID-19 not drop dramatically this week.

“The speed at which our numbers are rising is concerning and putting great strain on the health care and public health systems in our community,” Hill County Public Health Director and Health Officer Kim Larson said this morning. “Slowing down the spread has to happen, and we need the entire community to help with that. These restrictions, if followed should keep people distanced and safe and allow our cases to decrease.

“Please help us slow the spread of COVID-19,” Larson added.

Larson said the purpose of releasing this draft is to allow for a little more than a week for the community and businesses to prepare for the restrictions that could go into place.

The document says that the order will go into effect if the average of new positive cases per day exceeds an average more than 50 per 100,000 residents a day, which Larson said equates to about 58 new cases in a week for Hill County.

The tracking will run from Monday through Sunday.

Hill County had 38 new cases confirmed Monday, a Hill County Health Department release said.

Larson said the health department will wait until the end of the week before calculating the average number of cases per day per 100,000.

She said every person in the community needs to follow the public health advice the department, and health officials and experts nationwide, have been giving all this time.

“Everyone needs to do their part,” she said. “This is going to take our whole community, working as a whole to slow the spread of this virus. We need to remember to social distance when out, to not attend or host large gatherings, for establishments to follow and enforce the 50 percent capacity rule and for people to wear cloth face coverings when they are not able to social distance.”

The order, which has been discussed and reviewed by the Hill County Health Board, would require that social gatherings be limited to 25 people regardless of the feasibility of social distancing.

The order states that this includes, but is not limited to, business functions, private gatherings and organizational events.

A list of exceptions to this rule exists, including places of worship, which the order says may exceed group size of 25, as long as the facility operates at 75 percent capacity or less and everyone present observes social distancing, and wears masks.

It also exempts food service establishments that served a population that depends on it as one of its sole sources of food. This includes university dining facilities, cafeterias in K-12 schools, hospital and care facilities, as well as room service in hotels and any facilities necessary for the response to the emergency.

The order states that these facilities are, however, required to operate with necessary staff only.

It also specifies that all decision-making authority shall remain with the local school districts and boards for school-related activities including academic and extracurricular ones.

Child care facilities are also exempt.

The order also specifies that all restaurants, food courts, cafes, coffee houses, bars, brew pubs, taverns, breweries, distilleries, wineries, tasting rooms, special licensees, clubs and casinos will need to close at 12:30 a.m., though drive-through service can continue past that point.

It said businesses must also continue to operate at 50 percent capacity and must continue to maintain all social distancing and masking requirements.

The order states that it shall remain in effect for one month and shall be extended at the local public health officer’s discretion and will operate in addition to Gov. Steve Bullock’s Directives dated May 19 and July 15.

The order says that under Section 50-2-118 of the Montana Code Annotated, a local health officer in carrying out the purpose of the public health system shall take steps to limit contact between people in order to protect the public health from imminent threats, including but not limited to ordering the closure of buildings or facilities where people congregate and cancelling events.

It says the Hill County health officer has determined that the potential spread of COVID-19 constitutes a public health emergency and actions must be taken to avert and minimize the outbreak of the virus given how deadly or otherwise damaging it can be, how quickly it spreads and the fact that it is novel and no vaccine for it yet exists.

It says the CDC identifies the potential public health threat posed by COVID-19 both globally and in the United States as “high” and the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services recognizes COVID-19 as a threat to the residents of Montana and implementing mitigation measures to slow the spread of the virus is in the best interests of Hill County and its people.