Four more deaths in Hill County

Hill County has had four more COVID-19-related deaths reported over the weekend, Hill County Health Department said in an update Monday, bringing the death toll in the county to 69 since the start of the pandemic.

Blaine County Health Department also reported another confirmed death, but that was found in the state Department of Public Health and Human Services' reconciliation of records and was not a recent death, the department reported. The actual time of the death was not listed.

Blaine County has had 28 COVID-19-related deaths.

Liberty County has two deaths listed and Chouteau County has eight.

Assuming the new death listed in Blaine County occurred after Aug. 6, when Havre Daily News again began tracking data as the delta variant-driven surge of COVID-19 hit the area, the four counties have had 29 COVID-19-related deaths since that date.

The region has had nearly 2,300 cases confirmed since Aug. 6, with more than 5,900 cases confirmed in the counties since the pandemic hit Montana in March 2020.

The latest state update was not released by printing deadline this morning, but as of Monday's update, Montana has had more than 70,600 new cases and more than 2,565 new deaths confirmed since Aug. 6, with 5,911 active cases listed in Monday's update and and a total of 188,505 cases and 2,567 deaths since the pandemic started.

And while the numbers of new cases has been declining - as of Monday, Hill County was down to 20 active cases with four active hospitalizations, Blaine County had 19 active cases and two hospitalizations and, while the latest data was not available, Chouteau County had 7 active cases while Liberty County had 1 as of Monday's report - officials are warning that another surge is starting to hit the country.

Officials say that with more people staying indoors numbers are likely to increase, and it is coming while a more-contagious variant - a "delta-plus" variant - is cropping up in the United States.

Officials say the new variant appears to be slightly more transmissible than the highly contagious delta variant, which is twice as infectious as previous variants, but does not appear to cause more severe illness and the vaccines still are effective against it.

But, officials warn, that only helps if people are vaccinated and because of evidence that the original vaccinations, two shots of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines and one shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, appear to wane over time, booster shots are highly recommended.

The Pfizer vaccine is approved for anyone 5 and older and the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson for anyone 18 and older. Officials warn that everyone eligible to be vaccinated gets vaccinated and people eligible for boosters - who have been vaccinated two months or more earlier with Johnson & Johnson and six months or earlier with the others - receive a booster shot.

Blaine County announced in its update that it his holding a COVID-19 walk-in clinic in the Blaine County Fairgrounds Commercial Building in Chinook Monday, Nov. 29, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 3-6 p.m. with first, second and booster shots available in Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. People need to bring their COVID-19 vaccination card and their insurance card.

Rocky Boy Health Center is holding its second Vaccine Kickoff event for children 5-11 Wednesday, Dec. 1, from 4:30-7 p.m. in the health center Grand Hallway. The child must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

And local health agencies and organizations continue to offer vaccinations in general.

In Hill County, vaccinations are available through Bullhook Community Health Center, 406-395-4305; the Hill County Health Department, 406-400-2415; Northern Montana Health Care's Specialty Medical Center at 406-265-7831 or its Family Medical Center at 406-265-5408; Western Drug Pharmacy, 406-265-9601; Gary & Leo's Pharmacy, which takes walk-ins; Walmart; and the Rocky Boy Health Center says people can call 406-395-4486 to schedule a vaccination at the clinic.

Vaccinations are available in Blaine County through Blaine County Health Department, 406-357-2345, and Fort Belknap Health Center by calling the public health nurse at 406-353-3250 or the pharmacy at 406-353-3104.

Vaccine is available in Chouteau County at the Chouteau County Health Department, 406-622-3771, and Big Sandy Pharmacy at 406-378-5588.

People can call Liberty County Health Department at 406-759-5517 to schedule a vaccination.