Montana’s COVID-19 Task Force announced more than 100 new confirmed cases on Tuesday, with nearly 40% of those being located in Lake, Flathead and Lincoln counties.

Lake County reported 27 new cases, Flathead reported nine and Lincoln reported seven. The three counties collectively accounted for 43 of the new 109 cases that were announced.

Lake County has experienced a spike in cases over the last week — something that can be partially attributed to increased testing efforts. However, according to a recent post on the Lake County Public Health Department’s Facebook page, health officials “are now seeing community spread in Lake County,” and “with that being said, it is important to focus less on trying to determine who cases are and where they have been and instead assume that everyone has it.”

According to task force data, the area, which includes the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, has experienced a total of 80 confirmed cases since the start of the outbreak, but 12 of those have recovered and 68 are currently active. The social media post states that, as of Tuesday, there is also an additional “pending presumptive positive.”

The seven new cases in Lincoln County are in addition to the 19 new cases announced Monday morning. According to a post on the Lincoln County Health Department’s Facebook page, three of the new seven cases were linked to a large cluster outbreak in the Libby area and others were linked to travel. As of Tuesday morning, Lincoln County has had 40 total cases and according to state data, 33 of those are active, six have recovered and one has resulted in a fatality.

The nine new cases reported for Flathead County brings the area’s total to 84 cases. According to the Flathead City-County Health Department’s website, 31 of those are active, 51 have recovered and two have ended in fatalities. There are also three non-resident positives being monitored by health department staff.

Also on Tuesday morning, Sanders and Wibaux counties — at opposite ends of the state — reported their first cases since Montana’s COVID-19 outbreak began in March. Sanders reported three positive cases and Wibaux reported one.

As a whole, the state has performed more than 120,000 tests to date and nearly 2,000 of those have been positive. State data shows 884 of the positive cases have recovered, 1,034 are active and there have been 34 deaths statewide. There are 29 active hospitalizations.

Yellowstone and Gallatin counties remain the state’s most hard-hit areas. When combined, the two counties make up for nearly 50% of the state’s cumulative cases. As of Tuesday, Big Horn and Missoula counties are the only two other areas in Montana that have reported more than 100 cumulative cases.

Health officials caution there are likely more cases than are being reported considering, among other factors, many individuals may be asymptomatic and are therefore not being tested. Individuals are strongly encouraged to wear face masks in areas where social distancing is difficult.

For more information on county-specific data, go to your local health department’s website or social media page. For up-to-date information on COVID-19 cases in Flathead County, go to https://flatheadhealth.org/novel-coronavirus-covid-19/

Reporter Kianna Gardner can be reached at 758-4407 or kgardner@dailyinterlake.com