COVID-19 continued to dominate local headlines in 2021, but the government's response to the pandemic looked much different this year.
One of Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte’s first orders of business after taking office in January was to lift the statewide mask mandate enacted by his Democratic predecessor Steve Bullock. While Lewis and Clark County and some other local jurisdictions opted to keep their own masking requirements in place at the time, they were later forced to lift those rules under new legislation passed by the Republican-dominated Legislature.
In May, Lewis and Clark County health officials reluctantly announced that they would no longer enforce the county’s mask mandate due to a new law that removed the ability of local governments and health officials to issue ordinances or resolutions that deny customers access to a business’ goods or services, or that require a business to do so. The law effectively voided any local mandates that involved business closures, capacity limits or requirements that customers wear masks or not be allowed on the premises.
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While East Helena Public Schools lifted its mask requirements in May, Helena Public Schools required masks to be worn in all elementary and middle school buildings for the remainder of 2021.
In August, health officials in Lewis and Clark County announced they would no longer issue quarantine orders for people who come in close contact with known positive cases of COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was recommending that vaccinated people not be required to quarantine, but a new state law that bans discrimination based on vaccination status forced health officials in Montana to choose between quarantining all close contacts or none, regardless of vaccine status.
The new law also made Montana the only state to prohibit both public and private employers, including hospitals, from requiring workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Early in the year, Lewis and Clark County residents were clamoring for the limited supply of COVID-19 vaccines that were being rolled out to the most at-risk residents first as part of a phased approach. The local demand for vaccines was beginning to wane by mid-April, and only about 200 people took advantage of the 500 available appointments at a November clinic in Helena offering $50 in cash to anyone willing to get a first or second dose of the vaccine.
Today, 61% of the eligible county population is fully vaccinated and 39% remains unvaccinated against COVID-19.
With their hands tied, public health officials in Lewis and Clark County continued to urge residents to wear masks indoors and get vaccinated as COVID-19 cases began to surge in the fall.
In September, St. Peter’s Health implemented crisis standards of care as its intensive care unit, advanced medical unit and on-site morgue were reaching capacity largely due to an onslaught of new COVID-19 cases. Under this model, which remained in place until December, medical personnel were instructed to allocate limited resources to the patients with the highest likelihood of survival.
Lewis and Clark County was regularly logging 50 to more than 100 new daily cases from September to November, and St. Peter's Health reached a record high of 41 COVID-19 patients in October.
To date, more than 12,000 Lewis and Clark County residents have been infected with COVID-19, 185 cases remain active, and 154 county residents have died from the respiratory illness.
Editor Jesse Chaney can be reached at 406-447-4074, or find him on Twitter: @IR_JesseChaney.
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December 31, 2021 at 08:00PM
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Biggest local stories of 2021: COVID cases surged as health officials lost power - Helena Independent Record
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