Coronavirus case spike worries health, school officials

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Lincoln County continued to climb throughout the week, reaching record highs locally.

Officials with the health department announced 12 additional cases on Oct. 7, bringing the total number of active cases in the county to 51. Two octogenarians, three septuagenarians, three sexagonarians and two quiquagenerains were among those who tested positive. Tests from a woman in her 20s and a man in his 30s also came back positive. All of the new patients displayed symptoms of the virus. Three contracted the virus from an unknown source.

Three patients were hospitalized at the time of the announcement.

Health officials confirmed three new cases — all with unknown sources of exposure to the virus — on Oct. 6. Two women in their 70s and one in her 40s tested positive for the virus.

On Oct. 5, officials said the virus had again reached the level of community spread. This stage of viral spread means that contact tracers can no longer determine where or how those who tested positive became infected.

While health officials said cases are concentrated in Libby, they have refrained from declaring any towns in the county safe from the virus. Jennifer McCully, public health manager, said health department staff are not breaking down case counts by town because there is no epidemiological reason to do so. Revealing detailed information such as age and gender for those who test positive in small communities, like Trego, could inadvertently reveal their identities, McCully said.

For residents hospitalized with COVID-19, the policy at Cabinet Peaks Medical Center is to transport them, if possible, to the Kalispell Regional Medical Center or other nearby hospitals that have staff dedicated to treating coronavirus patients.

As case numbers in the Flathead reach new highs, Kate Stephens, public information officer for the Cabinet Peaks Medical Center, said the regional medical center has alternated between accepting Lincoln County patients and putting transfers on hold.

Officials with Montana’s COVID-19 Task Force reported 124 new cases in the Flathead on Oct. 6. The figure brought that county’s total active case count to 846, which is second highest in the state, according to the Daily Inter Lake.

Cabinet Peaks has set up a unit for treating COVID-19 patients locally. On Oct. 7, Stephens said one patient was hospitalized at the center. The patient was released later that day according to Stevens.

Other local health care centers have also felt the strain of rising case numbers. Officials with the Center for Asbestos Related Disease announced a four-day closure of the clinic on Oct. 5 due to the increasing numbers in the county. While officials said in a Facebook post the measure was taken to protect the health of patients and staff, it was unclear if anyone associated with the clinic tested positive for the virus.

The spike in cases in Libby has put pressure on school officials who hope to mitigate the spread of the virus while offering in-person classes to students. During an Oct. 5 public school board meeting, Superintendent Ron Goodman announced that around 70 students and staff were in quarantine across the district. Health department officials issued the self-isolation requests after identifying two positive cases in schools.

Goodman said the quarantines were primarily concentrated in the Middle High School.

Troy Public School District officials announced in a Facebook post on Oct. 7 that a staff member tested positive for the virus. Officials said the employee had minimal contact with students and staff during their period of possible exposure.

The staff member last worked in-person with students on Oct. 1, nearly a week before their diagnosis. Despite the limited contact, Superintendent Jacob Francom said "several" other staff members and students were in quarantine as of Oct. 8. Francom could not say how many were asked by health department officials to self-isolate since contact tracing was still underway.

As of Oct. 7, Libby schools were still in phase two of their reopening plan. In this stage, students are allowed to mix in groups of under 50. Masks are required but students are allowed to move about the school to change classes.

Restrictions may be forthcoming, however, as Goodman said administrators are preparing to move to phase one. In this scenario, students attending school would stay in small groups that would be kept isolated throughout the day.

“The goal of phase one is to keep us from phase zero,” Goodman said referring to the stage in school guidelines where all students would be on a remote learning curriculum. “We just want to keep kids in school.”