Lincoln County Montana
COVID-19 Information

COVID-19 is a contagious respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2).  People with COVID-19 may experience mild to severe symptoms including fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, body aches, headache, sore throat, or new loss of taste or smell.  People age 65 and older and people with underlying medical conditions, such as heart or lung disease or diabetes, are at higher risk of developing serious complications.

The Lincoln County Health Department is working daily to detect and investigate cases of COVID-19 and to provide current and accurate information about COVID-19 in Lincoln County.  Slowing the spread of COVID-19 will help to keep schools and businesses open, protect essential services, maintain hospital capacity, and protect the vulnerable.

These two graphs show the weekly number of tests and how many of those tests were positive. The rate of positivity is an important indicator because it can provide insights into whether a community is conducting enough testing to find cases. If a community’s positivity is high, it suggests that the community may largely be testing the sickest patients and possibly missing milder or asymptomatic cases. A lower positivity may indicate that a community is including in its testing patients with milder or no symptoms. The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that in countries that have conducted extensive testing for COVID-19, the percentage should remain at 5% or lower for at least 14 days.

This graph shows the number of cases in the county over 14 days per 100,000 people by date of new case. Population is based on 2010 Census data of 19,687 Lincoln County residents.

COVID-19 Information Links