As Montana prepares to reopen, state lacks local COVID-19 testing data

As Gov. Steve Bullock moves to roll back emergency measures enacted to slow the COVID-19 pandemic, he has said he’ll take a data-driven approach to reopening Montana’s economy. 

State officials are keeping a close eye on the number of laboratory-confirmed cases. However, they aren’t tracking the number of Montanans who’ve been tested in each county, a metric national experts say is important to fully understand how the outbreak is playing out in different parts of the state.  

In an effort to assess what information is available on local COVID-19 testing in Montana, journalists with Montana Free Press, Montana Public Radio, Yellowstone Public Radio, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle and Lee Newspapers teamed up to ask the local health officials serving each of Montana’s 56 counties how many of their residents had been tested for COVID-19 as of April 8.

After two weeks of follow-up calls and emails, we heard back from 53 counties. The responses indicate there has been wide variation in how many COVID-19 tests have been conducted in different parts of Montana, from upwards of 1,000 tests in some urban counties to fewer than 10 — or none at all — in some rural counties.

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Top Republicans oppose electronic signature collection for marijuana ballot measure

Montana’s secretary of state and attorney general oppose electronic collection of signatures for citizens’ initiatives attempting to qualify for the November ballot, according to an April 21 joint response by the offices to a lawsuit filed by a group trying to put legalization of adult-use marijuana before voters.

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Coronavirus and college admissions: test score suspensions and virtual prospecting

New test-score-optional admission policies are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of how the novel coronavirus has impacted the college admissions process in Montana. Cathy Cole, vice president for enrollment management at the University of Montana, said the current public health crisis emerged at a critical time for university recruitment. Typically spring is when UM is busy both securing commitments from high school seniors and attempting to woo high school juniors by introducing them to the campus, faculty and outdoor programs.

“This is an incredibly important time for us,” Cole said, “and to have COVID hit right about in the middle of both of those, it was pretty significant for us.” 

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Montana tourism offers a rain check, surveys the damage, and looks to brighter days

Even as Gov. Steve Bullock announced April 22 that Montana will begin a phased reopening of its economy, uncertainty remains in the tourism industry, one of the state’s largest economic sectors. And at least one Montana tourism agency is actively discouraging visitation. 

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Bullock details plan for phased reopening of Montana schools and businesses

In a unanimous opinion issued Tuesday, April 14, the Montana Supreme Court denied a disability rights organization’s petition to provide oversight of all the state’s correctional facilities in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The American Civil Liberties Union of Montana filed the lawsuit April 1 on behalf of Disability Rights Montana asking the high court to compel prisons and jails to mitigate the effects of the highly contagious illness.

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Court blocks Keystone XL water crossings

As the COVID-19 pandemic has upended Montana in recent weeks, Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat, has drawn little criticism from elected leaders in either party as he instituted a series of increasingly sweeping public health measures designed to slow the outbreak by closing down many businesses and directing Montanans to shelter in their homes.

That changed Tuesday, as the elected leadership of the Montana Legislature’s Republican majority published a public letter calling on the governor to “rethink” his COVID-19 response and “implement more strategic measures in an effort to re-engage our economy once again.”

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Journalist Emily Stifler Wolfe on contact tracing in Montana

On April 17, Montana Free Press published Wolfe’s story “How contact tracing slows the spread — and why getting Montana back to work requires more of it.” Wolfe is our guest on this week’s Montana Lowdown podcast, where she talks about what she learned while reporting the piece with host and Montana Free Press editor-in-chief John S. Adams. 

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Montanans rally at Capitol to air grievances and advocate lifting of coronavirus restrictions

More than three hundred Montana citizens and multiple Republican candidates for statewide office gathered at the state Capitol in Helena on Sunday, flaunting federal, state, and public health agency social distancing recommendations to express a range of opinions centered on the belief that it’s time for state directives closing schools and businesses to end. 

Similar protests in recent days have occurred in Colorado, Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina, Utah, Indiana, Texas, and other states. 

The rally, organized on Facebook, began around 1 p.m. and featured no speakers or public pronouncements. It was an opportunity, rather, for a quiet if vibrant public demonstration of pushback against directives issued by Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock designed to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. 

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Report for America fellow to join MTFP

Report for America has announced the selection of 225 journalists for its 2020 reporting corps. The new cohort will be placed with more than 160 local news organizations in 45 states and Puerto Rico. For the first time, an RFA reporter is being placed with Montana Free Press.

Montana Free Press editor-in-chief John Adams announced that RFA corps member Chris Aadland will join MTFP’s nonprofit newsroom in June and will cover Native American issues, COVID-19 fallout and the Montana Legislature. 

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MTFP welcomes new staff, board member

Kristin Tessman joins MTFP as director of development and operations, Mara Silvers is joining the reporting team in May, and longtime statehouse reporter Chuck Johnson was elected to the MTFP board of directors. 

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