THE LOCAL NEWS OF THE MADISON VALLEY, RUBY VALLEY AND SURROUNDING AREAS

60-day mask mandate still in effect, 120-hour Covid pay

Madison County COVID & Vaccination Update

On Tuesday morning, Montana reported 120 new coronavirus cases, according to the Coronavirus Task Force update. Four of those cases involved Madison County residents.

Madison County has fully immunized 241 individuals and 904 first doses have been administered. According to the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, Montana received 16,425 first doses and 13,525 second doses for the state to use and distribute to local jurisdictions the week of Feb. 15.

A 60-day mask mandate issued by the Madison County Public Health Department (MCPHD) on Jan. 26 remains in effect. Any update to that order would require a public meeting by the board of health.

The next MCPHD meeting will take place on March 16 at 5:30 p.m.

During Tuesday’s regularly scheduled Madison County Commissioners’ meeting, the commissioners approved the use of 120-Hour Covid Extension Pay for individuals that have been cleared by the health department to return to work, but have a note from a doctor indicating the individual should not return to work due to continuing Covid-related symptoms. The 120-hour pay may still be used by an individual in this situation, instead of needing to use sick or vacation time to compensate for unworked hours.

It was reiterated that as long as a doctor’s note identifies Covid symptoms as the reason a person cannot return to work, the extension pay may be used up to 120 hours. Without said note, individuals could remain home after contracting the virus but must use sick or vacation time to compensate for those hours.

Alison Veland, administrator in training at Madison Valley Manor, asked if this would be retroactive for Manor employees who had a doctor’s note citing Covid symptoms as the reason they could not return to work and were short pay at the end of February. Some Manor employees had used sick and vacation time but may still have had a portion of the 120 hours available to them.

Veland was advised to have employees send the doctor’s note to county finance along with the workdays the 120-hour pay should be attributed to. Sick and vacation time would be returned to employees’ hours and retroactively fitted to the extension pay back to Jan. 1.

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The Madisonian

65 N. MT Hwy 287
Ennis, MT 59729
406-682-7755
www.madisoniannews.com

Cori Koenig, editor: editor@madisoniannews.com
Susanne Hill, billing: s.hill@madisoniannews.com 
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