BUTTE — Amanda Marinovich, Butte-Silver Bow epidemiologist, is cautiously optimistic as COVID cases remain low after St. Patrick’s Day festivities.
"We really haven’t seen much of an uptick in cases. We’ve seen a little bit in the hospital but most of those have been—they're going in for other reasons and catching that they are positive, but they aren’t severely sick with COVID-19," said Marinovich.
According to the Butte-Silver Bow Health Department, the number of new COVID-19 cases for the week of March 14 to March 20 was only 8 reported cases.
"You know, for the most part it seems like most people don’t even know that they have it, which is one reason why we aren’t seeing the case numbers," said Marinovich.
Marinovich expects, like with flu season, there will be a predictable COVID season.
"It’s just something that we’re going to have to learn to deal with," she said.
The next event the department is monitoring for case numbers, according to Marinovich, is the Fourth of July.
"The past two years, that’s where we started seeing increases so I would probably expect that again this year," said Marinovich.
For now, the Butte-Silver Bow Health Department is getting a small break but is ready for anything.
"A lot of people are vaccinated. A lot of people have an immunity from being sick in January/ February. We’re cautiously optimistic that we’re gonna get a bit of a breather here," said Marinovich.
Vaccine clinics are held Tuesdays at the health department. From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., adults can receive the vaccine, and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., children can receive the vaccine.
