Governor Bullock Visits Eighth and Final Tribe to Complete First Round of Community COVID-19 Testing

State increases testing opportunities for vulnerable and asymptomatic Montanans

• June 18 2020

MONTANA – Governor Steve Bullock today visited the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, whose community testing event marks the completion of the first round of COVID-19 community testing in Montana’s tribal communities.

“I am grateful to all of Montana’s tribes for their partnership as we move forward together in the fight against COVID-19,” said Governor Bullock. “The virus is still here with us and as we learn to live in a new normal with social distancing and continued precautions, enhanced testing is an important tool in helping us find new cases early to limit the spread.”

Governor Bullock will continue to partner with tribal governments, tribal and local health offices, Indian Health Services, the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, and the Montana National Guard to conduct ongoing, accessible community testing in tribal communities. In addition to CSKT, Governor Bullock visited community testing events on the Blackfeet, Ft. Belknap, Crow, Chippewa Cree, Ft. Peck, and Northern Cheynne tribes. Lt. Governor Cooney visited a testing event with the Little Shell Tribe. Approximately 7,500 tests have been performed from the tribal community testing.

In May, Governor Bullock established a testing target of eventually reaching 60,000 tests per month. From June 6 through 12, Montana completed 11,229 tests – an increase of 50% from the week before.

The State of Montana is also partnering with gateway, tourism-impacted, and other communities across Montana to hold community snapshot testing events to test asymptomatic individuals and identify an early warning system to understand how the virus is impacting the state. Upcoming community testing events can be found at this link: https://covid19.mt.gov/Montanas-Testing-Information

Additionally, surveillance testing of all willing long term care facilities and assisted living facilities continues, with 126 completing testing to date. Over 4,460 tests have been completed with no confirmed positives to date.

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