Quick Links:
Current Gallatin County Community Level
People may choose to mask at any time. People with symptoms, a positive test, or exposure to someone with COVID-19 should wear a mask.
For more information, visit the state dashboard. Please note, the MT DPHHS has moved to weekly updates for their dashboard, and will update each Friday.
At all levels, individuals may choose to wear a mask based on their own individual risk assessment and personal preference.
Please note, the following information HAS NOT CHANGED with the new CDC guidance:
- COVID-19 community levels do not change the guidance for healthcare settings, such as hospitals and nursing homes. Instead, healthcare settings should continue to use levels of community transmission and follow CDC’s infection prevention and control recommendations for healthcare workers.
- Isolation and quarantine guidelines have also not changed. If you are COVID-19 positive or a close contact to someone who is, be sure to isolate and/or quarantine to prevent the virus from spreading to others.
- Continue to practice good health safety and hygiene protocols. It is still recommended to stay home when you are sick, test if you show symptoms of COVID-19 (and report your results), wash your hands frequently, continue to social distance, and wear a mask when social distance is not possible.
Community Levels FAQ:
With increasing levels of vaccination and high levels of population immunity from both vaccination and infections, the CDC notes that the risk of medically significant disease, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19 is now greatly reduced for most people. At the same time, some people and communities, such as the elderly, people who are immunocompromised, and people with disabilities, are at higher risk for serious illness and face challenging decisions navigating a world with COVID-19.
Because of this, on February 25, 2022, the CDC announced a significant shift in the way they are tracking the virus. Healthcare settings like hospitals and assisted living facilities will still be tracking case numbers under the “transmission rate,” but the general community has been moved to a “community level” way of tracking cases through multiple metrics.
- LOW – means there is limited impact on the local healthcare system and low levels of severe illness. When in LOW COMMUNITY LEVEL, you should:
- Be sure to stay up-to-date with your COVID-19 vaccine.
- Get tested if you have symptoms.
- MEDIUM – means some impact on the healthcare system, and there are more people with severe illness. When in MEDIUM COMMUNITY LEVEL, you should:
- Talk to your healthcare provider about whether you need to wear a mask and take other precautions if you are at high risk for severe illness.
- Stay up-to-date with your COVID-19 vaccine.
- Get tested if you have symptoms.
- HIGH – means there is high potential for healthcare system strain, and there is high levels of severe illness. When in HIGH COMMUNITY LEVEL, you should:
- Wear a mask in public indoor settings regardless of vaccination status.
- Stay up-to-date with your COVID-19 vaccine.
- Get tested if you have symptoms.
- Take additional precautions as needed, if you are at high risk for severe illness.
New COVID-19 Cases – This metric adds up all the new cases over the last 7 days. If the total is less than 200, we start in Low Community Level. If the total new cases is 200 or more, we start in Medium Community Level.- New COVID-19 Hospital Admissions – This number measures the total number of hospital admissions over the last 7 days.
- Percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients – This number is an average of the percentage of staffed beds occupied by COVID-19 patients over the last 7 days.
The COVID-19 community level is determined by the higher of the new admissions and inpatient beds metrics, based on the current level of new cases.
COVID-19 Data Dashboard
This dashboard is updated weekly every Monday by 10AM. Click Here to view the full size application.
To view statewide data, visit the COVID-19 state dashboard.
To view the full size mapping application visit this website.
This question has two different answers.
- The Gallatin City-County Health Department and the State of Montana DPHHS calculate reported cases differently. At GCCHD, we use the reported date when counting cases, which means our total case count can change from day to day if we are busy and/or cases come in after hours. The State of Montana reports cases on the day they receive the information. For example, if a case comes in at 6:00 p.m. on Friday evening, the GCCHD would process that case on Monday during business hours and submit to the state. GCCHD would count that case towards the daily case count on Friday (since that’s when it was reported), but the State of Montana would count that case on Monday (the date it was reported to them).
- GCCHD has chosen to include out-of-county and out-of-state residents who are isolated and recovering in Gallatin County in the case counts. While the State of Montana DPHHS does not include these cases.
This is not to say that any one entity is incorrectly publishing the data, it merely explains how the data is obtained at the local level, shared to the state level, and reported to the communities.
A “recovered” case means that a person who tested positive for COVID-19 has been released from isolation. It’s important to note that even when people are released from isolation, many of them continue to feel the effects of COVID-19 infection long after they are released from isolation.
The Gallatin City-County Health Department calculates the number of recovered cases as the number of total cases minus any active cases, current hospitalizations and deaths.
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