A Montana County Is So Swamped by COVID They've Run Out of Teachers, Hospital Beds

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

For seven emergency response physicians associated with the Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital in Hamilton, Montana, the rapid spike of coronavirus cases in the state has them at their breaking point.

The 80-year-old hospital system, named after one of the three “Copper Kings” of Butte, has seen the number of total infections double in the last few weeks—and the pandemic is slated to only get worse as winter looms.

In the last week alone, three residents in Ravalli County—where the hospital is located—have died from coronavirus complications. On Tuesday, all Stevensville schools were forced to close for two weeks and pivot to remote learning after the school system couldn’t find enough staff to fill classrooms.

At least four more schools in the county had to do the same in the past fortnight—including one school in which 40 percent of the students either had COVID-19 or had been in close contact with someone who did.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/montana-county-swamped-covid-ve-221602436.html

[soothsayer]

1. Let's just keep pretending things are normal

[hatrack]

2. Yes, and let's elect more Republicans, with their proven leadership and shit . . .

Lotsa luck, Montana.

[MontanaMama]

3. Stevensville is a RWNJ community.

When Governor Bullock issued a statewide mask mandate, Stevensville schools laughed at him. Stevensville and the whole Bitterroot Valley is in for it. This is going to be a long winter.

[StClone]

6. Has gotten to the point that it seems real to them yet?

Bet they vote Republican in the next pandemic too.

[MontanaMama]

10. They always will.

That area is only 40 miles from where I live and the difference in culture is mind blowing. A couple years ago, I chaperoned a middle school trip to Belize with my son’s class...we were paired with a group of students from Stevensville and our kids and their kids did not get along at all. It was almost alarming. Oil and water. When I recounted the story to my husband, he said “Doesn’t surprise me at all. It’s the Bitterroot. They’re as backwards as it gets”.

[Klaralven]

4. Hamilton, MT -- they should have plenty of microbiologists there

Hamilton is, as of 2004, home to two microbiological research and production facilities: the government-run Rocky Mountain Laboratories, and a branch of the Corixa Corporation (bought in the late 1990s from Ribi ImmunoChem Research, Inc.). The Corixa Corporation was bought by GlaxoSmithKline in 2005. NIAID (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) completed construction of a Biosafety Level 4 biohazard laboratory as part of the Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML) facility in 2008. This facility has begun operations using highly-pathogenic organisms including the Lentivirus family of viruses.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton,_Montana

AIDS is caused by HIV, a Lentivirus.

[kwolf68]

5. Another example of the divisions sowed by the Orange Anus

When he was bashing blue states for early struggles with the pandemic. We knew the red states would catch up given their cavalier attitude toward safety and low and behold they have. Will Trump tweet how badly the red states are being run now?

[TigressDem]

7. Now WHO could have seen this happening? Um. Everyone EXCEPT Dumpster Man in WH nt

[orwell]

8. Another Democratic "hoax"...

...putting people in the hospital.

MAGA sucks when you're in the ICU...

[KY_EnviroGuy]

9. I feel so sad for the innocent children and their teachers.

Their politicians and many parents need to be taken out behind the woodshed.

one school in which 40 percent of the students either had COVID-19 or had been in close contact with someone who did.

Many of these children and teachers will suffer long-term complications from this virus. Montana, this ain't the flu.

No excuse for this level of ignorance......

[Happy Hoosier]

11. Hard to feel really sorry for them.

That county voted for Trump by a 2 to 1 margin. They VOTED for this.