With the spread of COVID-19 finally showing signs of slowing, Montana’s Gov. Steve Bullock is starting to implement some guidelines for when the state will lift restrictions.
According to the Billings Gazette, Bullock’s orders to close public schools K-12 and stay-at-home orders are scheduled to come to an end on April 24 but Bullock said that not everything will return to normal all at once.
"We all need to understand this will be a gradual process because once we begin to re-open, we want to be able to stay open,” Bullock told the Gazette. “And we've got to recognize our new normal is going to look a little bit different. The virus isn't going away, and we're going to have to continue to adapt with how we live with it for the next while."
Bullock said that he will be looking for reductions that are consistent over two weeks’ time and less of a strain on hospitals both for the treatment of COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients.
While the spread of COVID-19 has slowed already in Montana, many other states are not as fortunate at this time.
Bullock, the paper said, is pushing for more help from the federal government in terms of testing capabilities, as they only were given 4,000 tests when they requested 30,000. Montana has 15 Abbott testing machines that deliver results in only 15 minutes but the state still needs help when it comes to using the machines to their full capacity.
Bullock is fairly confident in the fact that the virus is in fact slowing, saying that there would be more hospitalizations and fatalities if the virus was spreading still.
While the state does have the power to lift restrictions, Bullock wants to be cautious in his approach to ensure that people are able to get back to work without endangering the lives of fellow Montanans.
"I know that this crisis is hurting Montana and Montanans. But I also know that if we get this wrong, it'll hurt us even more," Bullock said, according to the Gazette.
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