The Butte-Silver Bow Health Department announced recently that three additional county residents, including an individual in their 20’s, have died due to COVID-19. In addition to the person in their 20’s, a person in their 60’s and an individual in their 90’s were the county’s newest COVID-19 casualties. With the new fatalities, a total of 93 COVID-19 deaths have occurred in Butte-Silver Bow. As of Monday, Sept. 14, 12 people with COVID-19 illness were hospitalized at St. James Healthcare, eight of them from Butte-Silver Bow. Of the 12, two were in the hospital’s intensive care unit, with one of the ICU patients on a ventilator. The range of ages for the patients is from the 40’s to the 90’s. Ten of the 12 hospitalized individuals were unvaccinated against COVID-19. For the epidemiological week of Sept. 4-10, the county saw 112 cases newly confirmed, which averages to 16 cases daily. This past weekend saw nine cases added; an additional 22 cases were added Monday going into the late afternoon. Median age for the epi-week was 40. Sixty-two percent of eligible Butte-Silver Bow residents are vaccinated, putting the county at No. 2 in the state for vaccination rate, behind Missoula County, which is at 64 percent.