State marks 615 new coronavirus cases in past week

With the tourist season in full swing, the number of coronavirus cases in the state surged last week. From July 6 to July 13 the state recorded 615 new cases and now has 1,034 active cases.

Since the outbreak in March, 34 people have died and 884 have recovered and there are 29 active hospitalizations.

Lincoln County, which hadn’t had any cases for weeks, now has 33 active cases, adding 19 on July 12 alone.

Flathead County currently has 31 active cases,

Yellowstone County has the most active cases at 369.

Canyon Creek Memory Care in Billings, a home for seniors, has had an outbreak. As of Monday morning, seven people had died, the Billings Gazette reported.

As of Monday, 50 residents had tested positive for COVID-19 along with 36 staff members, the Gazette noted.

In Columbia Falls, there’s free testing available Wednesdays for people who are asymptomatic, meaning they have no symptoms of the disease.

The testing is from 1 to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays adjacent to the Columbia Falls Chamber of Commerce office on 13th St East across from Marantette Park. The test is self-administered and takes about 5 minutes. Results come back in a week to 10 days.

West Glacier, Whitefish, Kalispell and Bigfork also have free testing, provided by the Flathead Community Health Center. Visit its Facebook page for exact times and dates.

All told, the state has completed 118,695 tests as of Monday and has recorded 1,843 cases since it started testing earlier this year.