HELENA – Governor Greg Gianforte said during a news conference in Helena on Tuesday, March 8, that Montana is going to phase 1B + of the state COVID-19 vaccination plan.
Vaccinations will be available for Montanane who are 60 years and older, as well as people between 16 and 59 years old who have certain pre-existing or chronic health conditions such as asthma, cystic fibrosis and liver disease.
The governor added that Montana is still projected to move into phase 1C of the vaccination plan by spring or early summer.
Gianforte added that the state ‘sees encouraging signs in our vaccine supply’.
He announced Monday that Montana will receive its first doses of the new Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine later this week. Montana will receive 8,700 doses of the single-dose vaccine, and provinces will begin distributing the doses in the week of March 8. Click here for more details. The state is expected to receive a total of about 60,000 COVID vaccines this week.
The number of Montanane who received at least one of the two vaccine shots is 260,705 as of Tuesday morning and the number who received both shots and are now fully vaccinated is 90,463.
According to MTN News, there are currently 1,559 active cases in the state, and there was a cumulative total of 100,587 cases of the virus in Montana. Of the total cases, 97,643 recovered.
There are currently 83 people hospitalized for the treatment of the virus, and the cumulative number of hospitalizations is 4591.
There were 168 new COVID cases reported in Montana on Tuesday, and the number of deaths since the start of the pandemic is 1,385, according to data compiled by MTN News.
The numbers reported by MTN reflect the latest data from the Montana COVID Web Site, together with supplementary information received from health departments in the province.