COVID-19 testing proceeding in the state as vaccines roll out

With the first round of COVID-19 vaccine on the way to hospitals in Montana to vaccinate front-line health care workers, testing for the disease is continuing, although some jurisdictions are having to make choices on who they can test.

Officials said testing is not being rationed in Hill County.

The vaccine Pfizer and BioNTech produced was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Friday, and the first round started shipping Sunday.

In Montana, the first round of vaccine will go to major hospitals in the state. The Pfizer BioNTech vaccine requires ultra-cold storage, minus 94 degrees fahrenheit.

Next week, when the state expects to receive the vaccine by Moderna that does not require as cold storage, shipments are planned to go out for health care workers at Northern Montana Hospital in Havre, Big Sandy Medical Center and Liberty Medical Center in Chester. 

Meanwhile, testing for the disease is continuing in the state, although some areas cannot give all the tests requested.

Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services public information officer Jon Ebelt said the department is continuing to make the same recommendation for all.

“Make every reasonable effort to test all close contacts, because, by doing so, we can prevent some of the spread of the virus by detecting those folks early,” Ebelt said.

He said some county health departments are prioritizing testing depending on available staff resources. For example, local jurisdictions in some instances have made the decision to prioritize testing symptomatic close contacts over asymptomatic close contacts due to high work volume.

Ebelt said officials having to prioritize testing raises concerns.

“Whenever you’re not testing, then you run the risk of the virus spreading to others if a case isn’t identified early,” he said. “When local jurisdictions are having to prioritize, it’s important that the highest priority be given to areas that would be most impacted by the virus, such as in settings with sensitive populations.”

He said testing has remained steady since Montana’s peak in mid-November to now, when the state is seeing a decline in new cases. 

Ebelt said the number of laboratory tests conducted in Montana increased during the month of September and held steady at around 35,000 weekly lab tests in October. In November, some fluctuation was noted, but on average nearly 37,000 samples were tested weekly in November. 

The highest positivity rates occurred in mid-November and began to decline continuously since then, Ebelt said. The total positivity rate went down, but the average numbers of tests conducted remained steady, meaning fewer new COVID-19 cases were diagnosed during the two most recent weeks at the time of Ebelt’s email, from Nov. 21 to Dec. 4.

Hill County Health Officer Kim Larson said when someone is identified as a close contact to a COVID-19 case, the health department schedules a test for that person at Bullhook Community Health Center.

She said people who are not feeling well but not identified as a close contact to a confirmed case must schedule an appointment at Northern Montana Health Care’s flu clinic. The flu clinic providers will assess each person on a case-by-case basis.

Northern Montana Health Care Marketing and Public Relations Coordinator Julianne LaSmith said this morning that the flu clinic is seeing anywhere from 25-40 patients a day and averaging 25 or more tests a day.