Health officials say Flathead County's Covid-19 vaccination rate is ticking upward by nearly 1% each week, a promising trend as the highly contagious delta variant continues to move through the valley's unvaccinated population.

Data from the state health department shows Flathead County reached 1,004 active infections on Thursday, a mark the area was consistently hitting in October 2020, just before the height of the pandemic in Montana. Only Yellowstone County had more active cases, with 1,016.

According to a report from the state, roughly 98% of infected people are testing positive for the delta variant, a strain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says is more transmissible and has more aggressive symptoms and side effects, particularly among the unvaccinated.

At Logan Health Medical Center in Kalispell, 38 people were hospitalized for complications of Covid-19 on Wednesday — 33 of whom are unvaccinated. All of the unvaccinated patients were the only ones requiring intensive care and/or ventilators, according to a report from the hospital.

While they aren't 100% effective at preventing infection, Covid-19 vaccines are highly effective at preventing severe symptoms, hospitalization and death.

Recent CDC reports show the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are 96% effective at preventing hospitalization among people ages 65 to 74 — who are particularly vulnerable to the virus — while the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is 84% effective.

LOCAL HEALTH experts hope the effectiveness of the three vaccines, combined with the Food and Drug Administration's recent approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, prompts more people to get their shots.

More than 50% of eligible Montanans are fully vaccinated. In Flathead County, the rate is 43% — still too low, experts say, but greater than local health officials once predicted the county would achieve.

Flathead County Health Officer Joe Russell said the county's vaccination rate dropped significantly in late June and early July, with only about 250 people per week receiving their first doses. However, that rate began to rise shortly afterward; through most of August and into September, roughly 600 people per week have been getting their first shots.

"It is ticking up slowly, and that's giving us some hope for the long term," Russell said in an interview Thursday. "We want this to continue the way it has and hope that people also get their boosters when it comes time to do that here."

Russell also said the valley's overall immunity rate may be closer to 60% when the number of fully vaccinated individuals is combined with those who have recently become infected with, and recovered from, Covid-19.

Russell estimated that 10,000 to 15,000 recovered individuals currently have some level of immunity against the virus, although he emphasized that vaccination is the strongest defense against future infections. Based on initial research by the CDC and other organizations, those who recover from the virus may be immune for 90 to 180 days.

"We want to see hospitalizations go down, and the numbers show that our unvaccinated population is most at risk for those serious complications," Russell said. "Even if you think you're currently immune because you recovered, you should get vaccinated as soon as possible if you aren't already."

Seven more Flathead County residents have died of Covid-19 over the past week, for a total of 127 as of Thursday, according to state data. The virus has killed 1,800 people in Montana since the start of the pandemic.

Reporter Kianna Gardner may be reached at kgardner@dailyinterlake.com.