About one-third of Montana counties fall under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations for fully vaccinated people to wear masks in public indoor places because of substantial or high transmission of COVID-19.
Seventeen counties in the state are experiencing upticks in COVID spread, with 50 or more new cases per 100,000 residents in the past seven days.
The CDC is recommending that inoculated people wear masks in public indoor places where community transmission is substantial or high.
In Montana, 10 counties are seeing high levels of community transmission, which the CDC measures as places where there are more than 100 new cases per 100,000 residents in the past week. The remaining seven counties that fall under the guidance are seeing what the CDC measures as substantial levels of transmission, where there are 50 to 99 new cases per 100,000 residents in the past seven days.
As of Wednesday, Mineral, Lincoln, Flathead, Toole, Teton, Cascade, Fergus, Blaine, Daniels and Powder River are seeing high levels of community transmission, according to the CDC. Fallon, Yellowstone, Jefferson, Missoula, Carbon, Sanders and Park counties have substantial levels of community transmission.
The CDC reversed guidance on Tuesday. The agency says fully-vaccinated people can become infected and transmit the Delta variant.
Gov. Greg Gianforte is encouraging Montanans to talk with their doctors about getting vaccinated but stopped short of endorsing the CDC’s new guidance on masks.
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