Southwest Montana News

On March 20, Ravalli County Commissioners declared an emergency in wake of the coronavirus pandemic and passed an emergency resolution in order to access federal funding.

“This is for the purpose of positioning ourselves to receive aid to all public safety entities in the county should the need arise, and also position the county to receive reimbursement for the costs associated with this current emergency,” said Chris Hoffman, commission chair, the Independent Record reported.

Gov. Steve Bullock also ordered the closure of non-essential businesses throughout the state on March 20, a move that is now taking place throughout the majority of the country. Bullock and Hoffman noted that these decisions are not to be taken lightly and are being made carefully, in conjunction with state and federal health officials and with the well-being of Montana citizens prioritized.

“My belief is that the governor is receiving the best information from state and national public health, and that is determining the decisions he makes for the health and welfare of the citizens of this state,” Hoffman said.  

Hoffman said that despite the county’s isolated location, serious decisions needed to be made quickly in effort to combat the virus as citizens in surrounding communities started falling ill.

“Although we don’t want to see the (financial) impacts that we are seeing, we also don’t want people to get sick or die because we didn’t act,” Hoffman said. “We are leaning heavily on every level of public health expertise. If limiting contact is the best weapon we’ve got to keep this thing from over running us, then that is what we should be considering.”

As of March 31, the nationwide COVID-19 numbers have grown to more than 140,900 confirmed cases and 2,405 deaths, according to the CDC. The United States now faces the most-confirmed cases in the world.