First Vaccines arrive in Montana, HLRC begins weekly reports

On Monday, December 14, 2020, the first doses of a Covid-19 vaccine were given to front-line healthcare workers in the United States. Ten healthcare facilities in Montana received the first 9,750 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. All of the states were included in the first 145 sites to receive a delivery. Another 425 sites will receive shipments on Tuesday, and on Wednesday there will be 66 deliveries to complete the initial shipment. 

This initial shipment is enough to start vaccinating 1.45 million people nationwide. The CDC has prioritized health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities to receive the initial vaccinations. Montana has averaged nearly 796 new cases a day since Monday, Dec. 7.  

In a statement released by his office, Sen. Jon Tester wrote, "Thanks to the hard work of Americans across the country, the first COVID-19 vaccine has arrived in Montana and is ready for distribution. When the sun rises tomorrow, Montana's frontline health care workers will start receiving the first doses of the vaccine, marking an extraordinary milestone after many months of hardship and sacrifice."

More than 300,000 people in the US have died from coronavirus since the first known death on February 6. This past week, 2,403 citizens have lost their lives to the disease. 

The State of Montana COVID-19 Dashboard reported that the Montana DPHHS performed an upgrade of the statewide communicable disease reporting system on Sunday, December 13. Due to this, no cases could be reported to the state for Monday’s update. 

According to the latest numbers, Montana reported a cumulative total of 73,303 confirmed COVID-19 cases on Monday, December 14, 2020, which included 691 new cases since Saturday. There are 9,707 active cases, with 62,788 people considered to be recovered. State officials also report that 3,080 of the cases have resulted in hospitalizations, and 365 patients are currently hospitalized. There have been 727, 059 tests performed in the state of Montana, which includes 4,751 new tests at press time. There have been 818 Montana deaths attributed to the disease.

The Hi-Line Retirement Center reported Monday afternoon that out of 41 residents at the nursing home, 25 have recovered from the virus and six have tested negative. Sadly, eight residents have died from causes related to Covid-19. In the Assisted Living facility, eight of the 15 residents are considered recovered, six are testing negative, and there is one active case. 

The nursing home has had 24 out of 55 staff members recover from the disease, with 2 currently actively infected and isolated at home, and 19 having not shown a positive result. Assisted Living has eight staff members, of which three have recovered, and five are still testing negative.

Phillips County Health Department reported two new cases on Friday, December 11. At press time, there are 34 cases reported as active, with 321 cases considered recovered for a total of 364 cases overall. At last reporting, 4 residents are hospitalized (out of 32 total hospitalizations) and we have lost nine Phillips County residents to this virus.