The Board of Health was set to begin deliberating a similar mandatory mask rule and order at the Wednesday evening meeting.
“The Butte-Silver Board of Health and Health Department staff are very grateful to Gov. Bullock for his issuance of the mask directive,” said Karen Sullivan, Butte-Silver Bow health officer.
The Board of Health was to gather in a virtual setting, and was prepared to accept public comment on the matter.
The Health Department was also accepting public comment via an email established specifically for the issue. Beginning Monday morning through mid-Wednesday afternoon, the department had received 637 emails, with 507 individuals voicing support for a local mandate, and 130 forwarding opposition.
“The fact that 80 percent of the emails we received on this issue were supportive of a local mandatory mask mandate gives me great hope that the vast majority of Butte-Silver Bow residents will do the right thing and mask up for the good of themselves, their family, their friends and the wider community,” Sullivan said.
Meanwhile, the Health Department announced Wednesday two new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the community. The cases are represented by two males, both in their 20s. Investigations into the cases, and related contact tracing, are under way.
The state map reflecting cases in Montana, located at https://montana.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=7c34f3412536439491adcc2103421d4b, does not yet reflect the new cases.
Butte-Silver Bow’s first confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus were announced March 13 – by late March, that number grew to 11 confirmed cases, and the county held steady at that number until June 22, when new cases were announced.
Since June 22, the Health Department has announced 16 newly confirmed cases. Of those, eight have been identified as a close contact to another confirmed case and four cases were linked to travel outside of the state. The Health Department has not been able to determine how the other four cases contracted the virus.
“We have not yet declared community transmission of the virus,” Sullivan said. “Should that time come, we will work with the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services to make the declaration of community spread, and announce that to the public.”
For more information,
contact Karen Sullivan
ksullivan@bsb.mt.gov
(406) 497-5003