The Flathead City-County Health Department on Saturday confirmed the death of an individual residing in a long term care facility due to COVID-19.

The health department has identified an outbreak of cases in connection with the facility and says it is working closely with the facility to prevent further transmission.

All cases have been isolated and all close contacts have been notified directly by health department staff, according to a release.

“We must continue to be vigilant in our efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” said Tamalee St. James Robinson, Interim Health Officer of the Flathead City-County Health Department. “We all have an important role to play in protecting our most vulnerable community members.”

The health department did not release the name of the person or the facility to due the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

The total number of deaths recorded related to COVID-19 in the county is now four.

Last week one Whitefish care facility confirmed resident and employees who tested positive for the virus, and one Kalipsell facility reported that employees there had tested positive.

The Whitefish Care and Rehabilitation Center on Thursday confirmed that 14 residents and employees at the center had tested positive for COVID-19.

According to Reid Crickmore, executive director of the Whitefish-based nursing home, all residents and staff were recently swabbed for the virus and those test results came back from the state testing lab in Helena on Thursday.

“We [facility employees] are working closely with CMS [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid] and the Flathead County Health Department and are communicating any and all updates to all family, staff, and residents,” Circkmore said in an email to the Daily Inter Lake. “Our residents’ and staff’s safety is our number one priority and we will continue to work hard to protect them. We are thankful for our staff that works tirelessly day in and day out to provide care for our residents.”

The cases were touched on briefly during the Flathead City-County Board of Health’s virtual meeting Thursday when a health department employee said they had been working closely with a long-term health-care facility in the area and had been in communication with leadership there on a day-to-day basis.

On Thursday, Crickmore said they were awaiting results and that the facility’s COVID-19 mitigation plan called for treating anyone with COVID-like symptoms as a possible positive case.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean they have COVID. It is purely a precautionary measure,” Crickmore said Thursday morning, prior to the results coming back.

Three employees at Immanuel Lutheran Communities tested positive for the coronavirus during required testing, the facility announced in a release on Friday.

Jason Cronk, President and CEO of Immanuel Lutheran, said the three employees were notified immediately upon receipt of the initial positive tests results and not allowed to come to work.

“It is obviously a concern that we had positive tests among any of our employees especially when they did not show any symptoms, but due to the nature of this virus, it is something we anticipated could happen and we have prepared to deal with this possibility,” Cronk said.

A resident in the assisted living at Buffalo Hill Terrace, which is associated with Immanuel Lutheran Communities, in July tested positive for COVID-19.

BeeHive Homes, an assisted-living facility in Columbia Falls, had an employee test positive for COVID-19 in July.

Montana on Monday had 6,489 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Flathead County had a total of 490 cumulative confirmed cases and 115 active cases.

There have been 91 deaths in Montana related to the virus, according to the state, and 4,842 people have recovered.

Daily Inter Lake Reporter Kianna Gardner contributed to this story.