HELENA, Mont. (AP) - Applications for temporary unemployment assistance declined for the seventh straight week last week while Montana reported four more positive COVID-19 cases from more than 1,100 tests run on Wednesday.
The state received 3,617 new unemployment applications last week, a decrease of 1.2% from the 3,660 claims that were filed the previous week, the U.S. Employment and Training Administration said Thursday. The applications were an increase of 364% compared to the number of applications submitted in the same week last year.
Since March 14, the state has processed 105,494 claims for unemployment, which represents 23.1% of the total workforce in Montana that is eligible for the unemployment insurance program. The numbers don’t include the self-employed and gig workers who were eligible for federal unemployment payments under the coronavirus relief act.
As of May 16, 48,919 people in Montana were receiving unemployment benefits, which represents 10.7% of all eligible employees in the state. The unemployment rate was 10.5% a week earlier.
The state issued over 52,000 unemployment insurance payments totaling over $56 million last week, which includes the extra $600 in federal payments as well as payments to the self-employed and gig workers. The figure does not represent the number of individuals who received payments, the Department of Labor and Industry said.
The state’s new COVID-19 cases announced Thursday include three in Big Horn County that were discovered during surveillance testing events and one in Yellowstone County. Big Horn County now has nine of the state’s 23 active cases. Montana has had 485 known cases and one person remains hospitalized.
In Billings, a Yellowstone County jail inmate who tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday spent 17 days in a unit with 33 other women before she was taken to the hospital and discovered to have the respiratory virus, The Billings Gazette reported.
Health officials believe the woman became infected while at the jail. She was booked into jail on April 28 and was moved to a medium security unit with 33 other women on May 4, said Capt. Roger Bodine, the jail commander.
The inmates and staff members who had contact with the woman will be tested beginning Friday, said Barbara Schneeman, a spokesperson for RiverStone Health, the county’s health department.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.
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