With Gallatin County seeing more positive cases of the coronavirus, higher hospitalizations from the virus, and more deaths recorded, the Health Board is meeting on Friday at 7 a.m. to discuss implementing further COVID-19 restrictions on the community.

Thursday, the Gallatin City-County Health Department announced another death locally related to COVID-19. This is the tenth death recorded since the pandemic started back in March. The latest death was attributed to a woman in her 90s from a long-term care facility who passed away last week in the hospital.

“The staff of the Health Department sends our sincere condolences to this woman’s family and friends,” said Matt Kelley, Gallatin City-County Health Department Health Officer. “Our actions impact not only our loved ones, but our entire community and especially our most vulnerable neighbors. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again - we need everyone’s help in slowing down transmission of this virus in Gallatin County. It’s vitally important to avoid crowds and keep your social distance whenever possible.”

That makes eight people over the age of 90 who have passed away with COVID-19 in Gallatin County. We currently have 19 people hospitalized due to the coronavirus.

On Friday morning, the Gallatin City-County Board of Health is expected to meet, and it is believed that they will announce new restrictions on certain businesses to slow the transmission of COVID-19. A press release issued by the Gallatin County Health Department earlier this week said the Board will consider:

  • Earlier closing times for bars & restaurants
  • Limiting group table sizes
  • Reducing capacities in bars, restaurants, and gyms.
  • Reducing group gatherings in Gallatin County from 50 to 25 individuals.

To date, Montana has recorded 407 deaths tied to the coronavirus from 39,968 positive test cases. That's a death rate 1.01%. That's down from 1.4% in mid-September when cases started to spike around the state.

If you have comments or concerns about the possible restrictions that the Health Board may implement, you are encouraged to let them know. Send your comments to the Board by clicking on the button below.

If you would like to participate in Friday's meeting you need to pre-register. To do that, use the button below.

Live stream the meeting by clicking on the button below.

Beware of These 50 Jobs That Might Vanish in the Next 50 Years

 

More From 100.7 KXLB