Number of quarantined Polson students tops 200

Two new confirmed cases of COVID-19 within the Polson School District, announced Dec. 4 and Dec. 7, have pushed the district’s total number of quarantined students to 218.

The Dec. 4 report involved a substitute teacher at Polson Middle School who tested positive. Three days later the district reported two confirmed cases among students at Cherry Valley Elementary. Subsequent contact tracing pushed the district’s quarantine total from 131 on Dec. 1 to the 218 reported Tuesday. There are approximately 1,640 students attending schools in the district.

Superintendent Tom DiGiallonardo said Tuesday there’s a chance many of the students recently placed on quarantine will be able to return as early as this week.

“We erred on the side of caution with the initial contact tracing, and we’re going back over it,” he said.

Twelve district staff members also are on quarantine, and officials were forced to shut down the special education pre-kindergarten program until Dec. 17 with six staff members in that program under quarantine.

As of Tuesday, the district was reporting eight active cases among students and six among staff.

The Ronan School District’s most recent update, posted on its website Dec. 5, reports two active student cases and two among staff, with 25 students on quarantine.

In St. Ignatius, Superintendent Jason Sargent on Tuesday said his district has four active cases, with two at the middle school and one each at the elementary and high schools. Sixteen St. Ignatius students were on quarantine Tuesday.

Beyond the schools, health officials on Dec. 3 announced the county’s 14th coronavirus death, a man in his 60s. Eleven of the county’s 14 deaths have been males age 60 to 99. On Tuesday, Lake County Public Health reported a total of 1,417 cases since the pandemic began, with 191 active and 1,212 recovered. That’s an increase of 21 active cases and 136 recoveries since the previous week. Current hospitalizations dropped from 11 last week to five on Tuesday.

Statewide, 69,346 cases have been confirmed in Montana, with 763 deaths.

Gov. Steve Bullock on Monday announced that the first round of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine expected to be delivered to Montana in mid-December will target health care workers at Montana’s major hospitals.

The nearest hospitals to make the initial list of recipients were Kalispell Regional Medical Center in Kalispell and Providence St. Patrick Hospital and Community Medical Center in Missoula.

Montana is expected to receive a second round shipment of vaccines a week subsequent to the first round that will contain both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, according to a press release from the Governor’s Office. The second round allocation will focus on rural hospitals and skilled nursing facilities.