Lake County identifies second case of COVID variant

Lake County health officials this week confirmed that a second COVID-19 case involving a variant of the initial virus has been identified within the county.

Emily Colomeda, health services director at the Lake County Health Department, said Monday the UK B.1.117 variant was identified in a county patient last week.

A case involving the California B.1.429 variant was announced in late April.

“Both are considered ‘variants of concern,’ which is defined as ‘a variant for which there is evidence of an increase in transmissibility, more severe disease (increased hospitalizations or deaths), significant reduction in neutralization by antibodies generated during previous infection or vaccination, reduced effectiveness of treatments or vaccines, or diagnostic detection failures,’” Colomeda said.

The most recent state data indicate 114 cases involving the UK B.1.117 variant have been identified in Montana. That’s 53% of all identified variant cases. The California B.1.429 variant is the state’s second most common, with 45 cases representing 21% of all cases.

Meanwhile, Lake County’s total number of COVID-19 cases is on the rise. Lake County Public Health on Friday reported 43 active cases and three current hospitalizations. The county had 15 active cases with no hospitalizations on April 28.

Tuesday morning the state was reporting that 47 percent (12,211 of 25,868) of Lake County residents who are eligible are fully vaccinated.

CSKT Tribal Health staff recently began administering the Pfizer vaccine to those ages 12-15 following federal approval of lowering the age requirement for that version. Anyone interested in scheduling an appointment for a vaccination should visit www.mtreadyclinic.org.

The CSKT health outreach van also is offering vaccinations without an appointment at various sites throughout the county. Contact Tribal Health at 406-745-3525 for information regarding its location.