Missoula Health Department

Following a nationwide search, the Missoula City County Health Department has looked within and selected D’Shane Barnett to replace outgoing Health Officer Ellen Leahy.

The Missoula City County Health Department has issued new more relaxed restrictions for long term care facilities and nursing homes with communal spaces, following Governor Gianforte’s order expanding vaccinations to all over the age of 16 in Montana.

Missoula City County Health Officer Ellen Leahy told KGVO News on Tuesday that she and the health department were not caught off guard by Governor Greg Gianforte’s announcement that all Montanans will be eligible to be vaccinated starting April 1.

Despite the fact that Montana Governor Greg Gianforte announced that the statewide mask mandate will be allowed to expire on Friday, the mandate will remain in place in Missoula County, according to the City County Health Department.

At 4:00 p.m. on Monday, February 8, the portal for 400 COVID 19 vaccinations will open at COVID 19 dot Missoula dot co.

Missoula attorney Quentin Rhoades, who in November sued then Governor Steve Bullock over mask mandates, has now filed suit against the Missoula County Health Department on behalf of several local businesses and one individual.

After one inmate tested positive for COVID 19, the entire staff and all the inmates who consented were tested for COVID 19, and a number of them came back positive.

With two more deaths in Missoula County reported on Friday, Missoula City County Health Officer Ellen Leahy said the number of hospitalizations has also risen, taxing local hospitals.

To slow the rapid spread of COVID 19, as of Thursday at 8:00 a.m. the Missoula City County Health Department will restrict business capacity to 50 percent, limit group gatherings to 25, cease serving alcohol at 10:00 p.m. and there will be a voluntary stay at home order.

Starting Friday, the Missoula City County Health Department is issuing a new order regarding nursing homes, long-term care facilities and assisted living facilities, citing the fact that the Governor’s office allows local health departments to ‘enact requirements that are more restrict…