People in Montana aren't masking or distancing... My Mom's former caregiver called me this

[abqtommy]

evening (she lives in Montana) to ask me for some information concerning the request to Social
Security concerning my Mom's death benefit. (Mom died last November)

So when that business was done I asked her how the virus was doing up there and she said nobody's
worried about it at all. I told her, "Well, we don't have to argue about it. Just remember that everyone
who has died because of it so far IS DEAD."

She was also misinformed about the population here, suggesting Q city had millions of people. So I
corrected her by saying more like 700,000 for the greater area. She's definitely one factually challenged person... I shoulda told her the joke about what you call a person who doesn't mask or distance (A: a corpse) but I'm always too slow.

That's what we're up against...

[2naSalit]

1. Depends on where she is...

In the part of Montana where I live, it's about 50% maybe more. I see more masks every time I go out so there's hope. It's really going to get bad here when the National Parks open up and the tourists start to show up. Yellowstone is closed but some stupid woman fell in a hot pool near Old Faithful night before last so there's that.

[MontanaFarmer]

4. After illegally entering the park, no less.

Quite a feat, actually, to drive basically to mammoth from old faithful with what would have had to be some awfully significant burns. Crazy.

[abqtommy]

5. Both my parents were Montana natives and I've lived here and there in the state as boy and man.

The person I wrote about in my original op lives in Ronan, a small town just south of Polson so I
wouldn't expect it to be representative. I was living in Hungry Horse in 1980 and right after I left for
California all the right-wingers started moving in and of course they're not gonna give up their free-dumbs. How's that going? What you've said is encouraging... We're only running about 50% here
in Albuquerque.

I always hated to hear about deaths by hot springs, especially a youngster. The stupid runs deep...

Montana State Motto: At least we're not North Dakota... see? I do remember!

[Maru Kitteh]

11. I have people buried in Ronan, and I live in Flathead County.

Whitefish is a serious boutique town now, more Dems so very high percentage of mask wearers. Kalispell and C-Falls it depends where you go, but even with the easing of restrictions somewhat, there are more masks than you might expect. I bought a set of tires last Friday at Discount Tire, had to be there to drop it off before they opened and ended up waiting in line with 6 other people. All kept their distance and all but one were wearing masks. I was rather proud of us, actually.

[abqtommy]

13. Sounds like good virus response there. My Mom was born in Kalispel. She was living in

Arizona in 2005 when I moved here to Albuquerque so I could visit and have a job too. In 2017 she
and her caregiver (also a Montanan) moved back north and here I am, lost my traveling bone, all dressed up and nowhere to go!

I actually like it here, been here 15 years already, longer than anywhere. Why? Because maybe twice
a year I have to clean snow off my car!

Let's all survive together!

[2naSalit]

14. We have a newer one now...

"Montana is FULL! I hear north Dakota is nice."

[abqtommy]

18. Thanks, I'll remember that too!

[2naSalit]

23. It's a popular bumper sticker around here.

[jalan48]

32. Hungry Horse and Martin City were pretty wild as I remember. No ID required to buy beer if you

looked old enough.

[ChazII]

24. Visting my relatives in Flagstaff

to get my grandmother's ashes to take down to Phoenix. Most everyone is wearing masks. Grand Canyon is still closed.

[MontanaFarmer]

2. People took it very seriously here for awhile.

Lately, folks' willingness to wear a mask has seemed to become directly proportional to how much they love trump. Also, Bullock did a very solid job very early, locking down the state before we had a confirmed case. It's inevitable, though, given some of the behaviors described in the OP, coupled with the struggles of some of the surrounding states, that we see at least some hotspots develop. I don't so much fear it sweeping the state as i do small communities getting community transmission going in a care center or similar. People that aren't taking it seriously here haven't had to because we've had relatively few cases and deaths; i sincerely hope they don't have to learn it the hard way.

[MFGsunny]

7. I had also heard that Bullock did a solid job right from the get-go.

And it was a definite plus, given how all this really works under best scientific knowledge.

Stay well.

[MontanaMama]

3. It really does depend where this person is referring to up here.

I live in Western Montana and we still have good restrictions in place even as the state opens up via phase 1. Costco and our local organic grocery store require masks on everybody that enters the store. I was at Target the other day for the first time since early February and maybe half the customers were wearing masks. That was not good. Most of the places that I go, which isn’t very many, people are wearing masks. I own a small business, and we are still seeing customers by appointment only, and those folks by and large show up wearing masks. Granted, I live in a fairly blue area of Montana.

All in all, we have had fewer than 500 documented cases in the state in the state. I agree with the post above that when our national parks open up, it will be a whole different story up here. I am dreading it.

ETA: We have just over 1 million people in the entire state.

[abqtommy]

6. See my Reply #5...

[MontanaMama]

8. I'm very familiar with Ronan.

My kiddo’s favorite fishing tackle shop is there!

I can understand why some folks don’t feel the threat of the virus up here. We have only 16 active cases in the state as of tonight. That’s going to change, however. Yellowstone is opening it’s southern border in a few days. It’s only just beginning.

[abqtommy]

9. I'm really into understanding this virus and protecting myself, my son that lives with me and

other people too. Death is such a final thing and I'm not in a hurry to go through it! Stay safe!

[GusBob]

10. You know where I live and where I work

All I can say is. Phase one has been a failure in my estimation. People have become complacent
One case in Hill county. Zero on RB
I only go into Havre once a week. Very few masks
On the Agency and in the clinic all I can say is: we fear trouble

[MontanaMama]

12. I was hoping to see you in this thread GB.

I’ve been curious what’s happening in your part of the state. I wear a mask everywhere. Most people do at the few places I go which is comforting. I’m grateful for spring weather...it’s been so good to get out and hike where I don’t see anyone for miles and miles. That said...I agree with you. Trouble is coming.

[GusBob]

26. Nice day for hiking today!

I know you miss baseball. The hiking has been good=first flowers blooming and trout biting like crazy. This weekend I went to the Bearpaw Battlefield, its open an not a soul in sight.

[MontanaMama]

28. The wildflowers right now!!!

Yep. On Monday's hike, I saw larkspur, paintbrush, blue bells, lupine, buttercups, pasque flower and so much more. Still, I don't think our mountain wildflowers compare to what you have on the plains. I used to take a trip to Miles City every spring to turkey hunt before my kiddo was born...the spring flowers rivaled anything I'd ever seen.

[2naSalit]

15. I worry about that too.

I hope it doesn't escalate but I fear things will get worse before better. One prediction I saw a while ago said that the expected peak for Montana would be around 6/20. We may have changed taht but when the tourists show up, everything changes.

[Warpy]

16. I think it's over 900,000 now

when you factor in all the exurbs in Sandoval and Valencia Counties.

At least the Gov. is on the ball. I shudder to think what Susana la Tejana would have been doing all this time.

I'm also a little surprised Gallup is still closed. I expected the gin mill owners to be johnny on the spot filing lawsuits against the improper use of the Riot Control Act, which was clearly passed to kill unions.

In any case, I expect the bigger towns and the cities to be pretty compliant, out in the boonies, not so much.

(I moved here from Boston, which has the same population as this city. Factor in the burbs and exurbs, it goes up to 5 million)

[abqtommy]

19. I'd have to actually look up the population stats here and I haven't done that since I moved here in

2005. I know I'm still here. Traffic is sure light whenever I go out, that's for sure. Yeah, we've always
voted straight Dem since we moved here and it's good to see it pay off now. I'm still disappointed with
the rate of mask/distance compliance here, especially at the apartments I live at. I'm a bitter old man who was previously a bitter child so I rag on people all the time.

I just did a search and here's one thing I found: "Albuquerque, New Mexico Population 2020
561,188". That'd be just inside the city limits, add on a bit more for the burbs.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/albuquerque-population/

Here's the State Of New Mexico population: "New Mexico Population 2020 (Demographics, Maps, Graphs) 2,096,640" https://worldpopulationreview.com/states/new-mexico-population/

I like it here. There's lots more public politeness than I've seen elsewhere in bigger towns.

[Warpy]

30. I just got too old for those Boston winters

The climate here is paradise. The summers are a lot longer, but triple digit heat with humidity under 20% is easier to take than 90+ heat with 90+ humidity.

I've already had a case of "presumptive," so I will probably be a little less fussy if somebody gets too close.

I've forgotten where I found those stats, it was about 2 months ago and it added in towns like Los Lunas and Belen, which are fair sized commuter towns, along with a few dinky towns to the north and that increased the total. Greater Boston extends into NH and northern RI, real estate prices being as insane as those around San Francisco and 90 minute commutes looking like a good idea so the rug rats will have a back yard.

I like the culture here.

[abqtommy]

31. Hmmm...every town and city has a legal boundary that's called The City Limit and there are stats

for that. Then there are Metro Areas that count in the suburbs. I wouldn't include Belen and Los Lunas or Rio Rancho in that but then I think it's possible to claim artistic license in some courts. I'd say that given the population of the State Of New Mexico that nearly half of the state's population can be found
in the Greater Albuquerque area. I get a small town feel here that has kept me here so long.

I've been in New York City as a child and as an adult changing planes. Never been to Boston, I think that large groups of people are best avoided.

But I think we agree on most critical points. I like the culture here, too.

[Warpy]

33. They are part of the "greater" because so many are commuter towns.

It was the same in Boston. The land area of Boston is small, but there are adjacent towns that weren't incorporated along with suburbs and exurbs, and they all drove to work in the city every day and you could chew the air, another reason I finally left.

[MFM008]

17. It took me

8 months to get my moms death benefit last year.
Be prepared.

[abqtommy]

20. Thanks, I'm not involved in those details since the caretaker is handling it. Hell, I knew Mom

was gonna die but I wasn't even prepared for it once it happened. Sorry for your loss...

[FBaggins]

21. People in Montana probably don't need to

Out of ~9,000 tests in the last couple weeks... they've only had about ten positive cases and only a couple people hospitalized. It's been two weeks since they last reported a death in the state and the total is only 16. Half of their counties haven't reported a single positive test. They started easing restrictions a couple of weeks ago and yet had only one positive test out of over 800 yesterday.

Making some assumptions from your post (mother is old enough to have a caregiver)... that caregiver may be one of the few that needs to take masks seriously (but even then, just in her patient's home)

[abqtommy]

22. Suture yourself, as the do-it-yourself doctor kit says. As for me I believe that it's better to be

safe than sorry. You're in the U.P.? Been there, done that. Stay safe.

[FBaggins]

25. The U.P.? Were you mistaking the outline of NC for part of MI?

"Better safe than sorry" is fine for your own life (though I doubt you were wearing the mask six months ago)... but insufficient to justify demeaning people in an entirely different situation than your own.

In NM, you could have 5,000 tests in a day and find that almost 150-200 of them were positive. Montana could go multiple days between anyone showing up positive. The risks (and therefore the appropriate societal responses) are entirely different.

[abqtommy]

27. I do see a similarity between the outlines or North Carolina and Upper Michigan. It wasn't

my intention to cause any insult to anyone... You just go ahead and do whatever your own bad self* decides. So will I. I know I won't gamble with my life or anyone elses.

* to Bill Cosby

[FBaggins]

29. That's the point you're missing. Of COURSE you'll gamble with your own life

You do it every time you get in a car or walk down a staircase or fly on a plane (or when you went out without a mask before Covid 19).

What you won't do is gamble with your life (or that of others) beyond a given set of odds that you consider too dangerous (when compared to the benefits you see of taking the risk).

Where you live (and in much of the country), the risks you would take in not wearing a mask in public... is beyond that threshold.

In Montana - the risk of going maskless today is below that of risks that you take all the time.

There's simply a difference between 16 cases statewide... and 231

[GusBob]

34. 4 new cases today in Bighorn county

Reported
The Crow Nation extended their safer at home into June

[abqtommy]

35. Oh no! Thanks for the update, Bob. It might be a good idea for you to start a new thread to maintain

visibility...I know here in New Mexico Our Navajo brothers and sisters are having a hard time now...