April 13, 2020
As of noon today, April 13, 2020, there are 5 cases of COVID-19 in Ravalli County. Until the last two cases, all of the cases were travel related. Initially, travel was defined as international, then state, and then county. As the cases are increases, travel related is no longer a factor in reporting.
The first two cases identified a couple of weeks ago have recovered.
Of the remaining three cases, the people that tested positive are in isolation and their contacts are being quarantined or in the process of being contacted.
The cases identified over the weekend were through family contacts of a positive case in Missoula.
Community spread is defined as “The person didn’t get the virus from travel, but they did get it from someone that has not been identified.”
As there are more cases, the cases will be reported as community spread or not.
Dr. Carol Calderwood, Incident Commander: “The positive and quarantine cases are throughout the Valley. They are not just in one community – contrary to the rumors!! As more cases become known, and they will, we need to be more aware of the individual precautions we can take that do make a difference: wear masks if you put yourself in a situation that you don’t have control over distancing, use hand sanitizers – everywhere, all the time, especially when you get in and out of your car, and distance.”