Yellowstone County Health Officer John Felton is a regular at the board meetings, providing context to community COVID-19 data.
“The first bit of good news I’ve been able to share with you for a long time.
October was the worst month on record for new COVID cases in Yellowstone County, with 4522 new cases recorded, Felton said.
In the past two weeks, the number has dropped, with 83 new cases in the Billings schools on the week of 10/31 and 65 new cases recorded last week.
“Our peak of a year ago, it looks a lot like what we saw this year.
The 2020 COVID case spike took about four months to flatten out, according to data Felton shared at the meeting.
Upham said a big factor in the mask decision is the fact that now every school-age kid can get a COVID-19 vaccine, minus preschool students.
I think by mid January, the majority of families that are going to choose to vaccinate their five to eleven year olds, it’s going to be done.
The district currently has 115 students enrolled in virtual learning, with the ability to easily add 100 more, Upham said.