Montana Gov. Orders Emergency Testing for Assisted Living Communities

Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana announced that the state's Department of Public Health and Human Services will order all assisted living and nursing communities to test all employees and residents before allowing any more visitors, reports the Montana Free Press . He said the emergency directive will give the state "stronger enforcement" authority to make sure communities are performing adequate testing to allow visitation and prevent outbreaks among residents. The order requires all communities to test all staff and residents once, and then regularly perform surveillance testing of employees. "By guaranteeing the testing is being conducted on a regular basis, we can ensure that any evidence of the virus in a community is caught early on and mitigated before it spreads further," Bullock said. His announcement came hours after Yellowstone County health officials and managers at the Canyon Creek Memory Care Community in Billings reported that a COVID-19 outbreak had infected 43 residents and 15 staffers. Bullock noted that Montana had previously encouraged all nursing home and assisted living communities to voluntarily test all employees and residents, with the state covering the cost. "The purpose of this rule is to help prevent what's happened at Canyon Creek," he stated.