THE DESANTIS FLU:

As the rest of the U.S. begins to refer to the second "summer surge" of the coronavirus pandemic in the past tense, Montana has for weeks stood out as one of the nation's hotspots, with no sign of a slowdown as statewide COVID-19 hospitalizations set a new record this week. [...]

States with lower vaccination rates have fared significantly worse than their more-immune counterparts elsewhere in the country, and Montana is no exception. As of Friday, 49% of the state's population was fully vaccinated, versus 57% nationwide. Meanwhile, the state's daily COVID-19 cases per capita remain the second-highest in the nation, with Alaska saddled with the country's most severe outbreak.

And while some states with higher vaccination rates have also seen cases rise as the highly contagious Delta variant took hold during the summer and early fall, as of Friday all but one of the 10 states with the highest per-capita caseloads also have vaccinations rates below the national average.

Dr. Neil Ku, an epidemiologist at Billings Clinic, noted in an interview Friday that while no single strategy to curb the spread of the virus is a "magic bullet," vaccination rates correlate strongly with how states and communities have fared during the second surge of the coronavirus.

"Ultimately, the goal is, if we can get to a certain level of immunity in the community, then yes, that would provide enough protection for the community themselves," Ku said. But, he added, in the absence of immunity being prevalent enough to stave off community spread, people still need to take precautions that have been proven to be effective in curbing the virus' reach.

"Public health measures, like physical distancing and masking, the use of masks, don't seem to be as prioritized by much of the public," Ku said. "And that's partially because the general consensus of the public, compared to a year ago, is it doesn't appear to them as bad as what was made out to them."

The rate of survival for those who get sick has improved slightly, Ku noted, but overwhelmed hospitals across the state show the current surge is as grave last year's, before vaccines were available. Billings Clinic's intensive care unit was at 164% of capacity as of Friday morning, according to a hospital spokesperson -- similar to other medical facilities in the state. The hospital set a new record for ICU patients earlier in the week, with 52, and had 18 COVID-positive patients on ventilators by Friday afternoon. Four COVID patients there had died in the past 48 hours.

Tweet   @brothersjudd