Missoula County added 43 new COVID cases Monday, bringing the total to 1,788 active cases from 26,535 reports throughout the pandemic.
Active cases have dropped dramatically from last week, when there were nearly 4,000 active reports, according to Missoula County data.
County residents between the ages of 20 and 29 represent just under 19% of all active cases, the most of any age group at present. They are closely followed by residents between the ages of 30 and 39, who account for 16.65% of all active cases in the county.
Additionally, there were no new COVID-related deaths in the past week. A total of 200 residents died.
The county’s incident rate — the seven-day average of new COVID cases per 100,000 people — also declined throughout the month and now stands at 68. On Feb. 1, the incident rate was 337 ,20. The county goal incident rate is 25.
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The seven-day test positivity rate for the county is 15.45%.
There are 28 total people currently hospitalized with COVID-related illness – only 12 of them are Missoula County residents. There have been an average of 17 county residents hospitalized over the past seven days.
The vaccination rate has held steady since last week, with 72.61% of the county’s eligible population having received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine. Of that number, 63.21% of eligible county residents are fully vaccinated against COVID.
COVID in schools
Ninety-four COVID cases were reported among Missoula County public school students and staff between Feb. 5 and Feb. 11, which is the lowest number of new cases so far this semester.
Of the new cases reported last week, almost 40% were in students between kindergarten and fifth grade – 18 staff members also tested positive. A total of 2,172 cases have been reported in the district this school year.
High school students accounted for about 30% of new cases last week. Hellgate High School posted the highest number of cases among students and staff with 18 reports, followed by Sentinel with 11 cases. No cases have been reported at Seeley Swan High School or Willard.
Just as new cases have declined, so have the number of close contacts. In the week ending Feb. 11, 315 people were identified as close contacts, based on the district’s estimates of its average number of close contacts per positive case. Most of the close contacts were students between kindergarten and fifth grade.
No new cases were reported among students and staff at the University of Montana Monday morning. There are 81 active cases associated with the university, according to county data.