By the morning of Jan. 17 the Flathead Metropolis-County Well being Section had nonetheless to acquire any new at-home COVID-19 assessments from the Montana Section of General public Overall health and Human Companies, continuing a tests offer drought for the overall health department that stretches back again to when it ran out of tests on Jan. 7.

The testing source shortage will come amid expanding scenario counts and hospitalizations in Flathead County as the omicron variant of COVID-19 proceeds to spread.

The county started the month with about 260 lively COVID-19 conditions, and by this 7 days that quantity experienced risen to 1,295. In the same way, Logan Health and fitness was down to lower double-digit COVID-19 hospitalizations at the begin of January. At the commence of this week the clinic experienced 36 COVID-19 hospitalizations.

Enhanced COVID-19 unfold sales opportunities to increased COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths, and Health Officer Joe Russell is fearful about what the testing provide shortage could necessarily mean for restricting the unfold of COVID-19 locally.

“I loathe to sound all gloom and doom, but I’d relatively have individuals examination and continue to be home, than to not have a take a look at offered and finish up going and producing 4 or five other folks unwell,” Russell mentioned Monday.

The overall health officer said he’s frustrated by the problem, and that he isn’t sure when the county will get a lot more checks. The last shipment the wellbeing department gained was 300 tests short of the 1,000 asked for. Gov. Greg Gianforte declared final week that the point out had secured 650,000 at-dwelling rapid assessments that are predicted to arrive the 7 days of Jan. 24.

“I’m hoping they’re going to be in earlier than that, but I haven’t been specified any guarantees,” Russell said.

Logan Well being has observed a considerable raise in tests demand from customers in new months, with about 3,000 checks performed the week of Jan. 2 in contrast to 2,300 the 7 days prior. About 90% of the 6,800 assessments executed by the healthcare facility so much this thirty day period have been PCR checks. Dr. Cory Limited, a hospitalist and the government medical doctor for Logan Health’s acute treatment products and services line, said that based mostly on what he’s listened to from the hospital’s pathology department there are not any…