NewsCoronavirus

Actions

Missoula County officials discuss COVID-19 trends

Posted at 10:39 AM, Aug 19, 2020
and last updated 2020-08-19 13:34:35-04

MISSOULA — Public health officials and epidemiologists with the University of Montana discussed the latest epidemiological information and trends for COVID-19 cases in Missoula County on Wednesday morning.

The Montana Response COVID-19 tracking map showed three additional COVID-19 cases were being reported on Wednesday morning in Missoula County.

State data also showed 74 active cases and 314 recoveries. There have been two COVID-19 related deaths reported in Missoula County to date.

Watch the news conference below.

Missoula Co, health officials discuss COVID-19 trends

Missoula COVID-19 Incident Commander Cindy Farr has offered some insight into the current coronavirus situation as area schools prepare to return to the classroom.

The COVID-19 updates come every day -- and every day it seems like things are getting more and more out of hand. "We are still seeing a pretty steady number of cases coming in," Farr noted.

But experts at the Missoula City-County Health Department say the number to look at is the R value -- which in our case is actually pretty good.

"We're watching the R value which is the reproductive value of the virus --how many people who get exposed to it are actually getting sick from it," Farr explained. "And right now it's still hovering right around one, and that's what we want to see.

But the Missoula community is expected to see major changes in the coming weeks as students head back to school.