As of Friday morning, Montana was nearing 500 total confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus since the state saw its first positive cases in early March, according to a report from the state’s COVID-19 task force.

The state has performed more than 38,000 tests to date with 493 of those resulting in positives. Of those, 448 have recovered, 17 have died and there are currently 28 active cases, two of which are considered “hospitalized.”

Overall, Montana has seen a relatively steady decline in confirmed positives since the state reported 36 positives on March 26 — the highest daily tally during the outbreak. Between April 22 and May 13, the state didn’t see more than three daily positives and for a short three-day stretch in early May, there were zero.

Many Montana counties have now gone significant stretches without any confirmed positives For example, Flathead County has now gone more than 40 days with no new cases and hard-hit rural Toole County, where the outbreak swept through an assisted-living facility, hasn’t reported a positive case since April 17.

While most counties appear to have the spread well under control, in recent weeks the state has experienced a few “cluster outbreaks” — a term coined by the Ravalli County Public Health Department after Ravalli County reported seven new cases in one day last Wednesday.

Part of the county’s outbreak was linked to employees at the Stock Farm Club in Hamilton, whose general manager released a statement last week thanking the health department for assisting with the spike. The department recently announced Ravalli County, which has experienced 13 positives to date, currently has eight active cases in isolation and the area has not reported an additional positive since May 20.

The second spike occurred more recently in Big Horn County.

Three new cases were reported in the area on Thursday, followed by six new cases on Friday. The positives came after the Big Horn County Health Department held several “testing events,” which were promoted on social media. One post on the health department’s Facebook from Thursday states “Today in Hardin, we tested 1,021; yesterday in Crow Agency, we tested 591 (upward adjustment from yesterday as numbers were finalized). Thank you, thank you to all who came out these past two weeks! You are heroes for our community!”

Big Horn County now has 18 cumulative positive cases, according to state task force data.

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