Upward trend continues for county COVID cases, most hospitalizations statewide from unvaccinated people
(Image courtesy CDC) This illustration, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses.
COVID-19 cases in Flathead County continue to surge upward and it now has the dubious distinction of having just under 25% of all active cases in the state.
The county had 453 active cases as of Thursday, surpassing any other county in the state.
At Logan Health Hospital in Kalispell, 22 patients are currently hospitalized, hospital spokeswoman Mellody Sharpton said.
Yellowstone County is second in the state with 249 active cases. Statewide there are about 1,851 cases and the number increases daily.
Flathead County reported 62 new cases on Thursday alone.
The increase in cases seems to be coming down to not enough people getting vaccinated.
COVID‐19 related hospitalization data from the past eight weeks from June 5 to July 30 shows that 89% of Montanans who were hospitalized had not received the COVID-19 vaccine, the state Department of Health and Human Services said in a release Thursday.
The data includes 358 hospitalizations of Montanans during this time frame. The hospitalizations included an age range from 1 to 97, with a median age of 64.
The health department reports the average daily number of COVID-19 hospitalizations has slowly started to trend upward to the current average of 95 people. This includes a 44% increase from the week ending July 23 to the week ending July 30.
As of Thursday, 135 people were hospitalized statewide, or about 7% of those currently infected.
For context, last November, the average daily COVID hospitalizations were 427 people, which was the month with the highest reported COVID cases and hospitalizations.
The trend of new COVID-19 positive cases continues to increase. For the week ending June 25, there were 359 cases reported and for the week ending July 30, there were 1,180 cases reported statewide.
“This data illustrates just how effective the COVID-19 vaccine is in preventing serious illness when you consider how far we’ve come since the vaccine first became available,” director Adam Meier said. “The data is also a reminder of how important it is to get vaccinated. This is now a vaccine-preventable disease, and the last thing we want to see are more cases and hospitalizations. The COVID-19 vaccine is the best tool we have to prevent serious illness and hospitalization. The fall and winter months are just around the corner. Now is the time to get the vaccine.”
On a positive note, state health department officials also say the number of individuals receiving their first vaccine dose has started to steadily increase over the past several weeks, after declining in June and the first part of July. For example, for the week ending July 23 to the week ending July 30, there was an 18% increase in individuals receiving their first dose administration.
“This is an encouraging sign to see that more people are deciding to get vaccinated, and I hope this trend continues in the coming weeks,” Meier said.
Flathead County has about a 40% vaccination rate among people eligible.
But statewide, many older folks are vaccinated. About 74% of Montanans age 60 and over (those most vulnerable) are fully vaccinated, he noted.
There have been some “breakthrough cases” where a person gets vaccinated and still gets sick or dies, as the vaccine is not 100% effective.
Since July 30, there have been 442,078 Montanans who have completed the COVID-19 vaccine series. Since then, 788 cases of breakthrough infection have been reported in Montana, which is only 4% of cases identified since Feb. 15, 2021. Of these breakthrough cases, 68 (9%) were hospitalized and 14 (2%) died, the department noted.