Keep COVID-19 Out of Montana

To: Steve Bullock, Governor of Montana
From: The People of Montana

Under your prescient and competent leadership, Montanans have successfully bent the curve on cases and deaths caused by the global coronavirus pandemic. Montanans have stayed at home, washed hands, worn masks, and socially distanced, and our continued sacrifices are minimizing the devastating impacts of COVID-19 in Montana. It truly is, and always has been, a privilege to live in a place where we all care for each other.

However, we are not out of the woods, primarily because there is no national or regional strategy to mitigate the effects of this yet-to-be eradicated virus with testing, tracing, and quarantining. We know what works, and we must focus on these prudent strategies until there is a safe and effective vaccine that is free for everyone within reach of the virus.

Montanans must remain vigilant, but Montana can do more to protect our families. As summer starts, we request your administration take two simple steps to ensure that Montana remains a place “where there is no virus:”

1. Expand your travel directives beyond airplane and train traffic to include and accommodate all vehicular traffic entering Montana on all public highways until the state of emergency is lifted. Retain the directive requiring a 14-day quarantine for non-work-related arrivals in Montana.

In your March 30, 2020, Executive Directive on “Quarantine for Travelers” you stated that, “At present, travel is the most common known source of COVID-19 infections in Montana.” That remains true, and we’re sure that your March 30 directive, as it relates to airplane and train traffic, has saved lives. The Montana National Guard has been doing a great job protecting us at our airports and train stations.

However, it is not clear how anyone coming into Montana by car, truck, or RV knew anything about the 14-day self-quarantine requirement (there were no public notices posted at the borders). The Montana National Guard should have been protecting us at all vehicular border crossings as well.

We welcome out-of-state visitors as long as they are not entering our home with an unknown-to-them virus through no fault of their own. It’s for this reason that we also request your administration:

2. Establish a COVID-19 testing station on all public highway border crossings entering Montana, with a FREE surveillance test offered to everyone and anyone who wants to enter the state by vehicle.

An exception can be made for any traveler that can provide written documentation from a recognized public health authority that they have been similarly tested within the preceding week. Anyone who refuses the test must be screened and monitored as all current air and train travelers are, or they can turn around. Anyone who tests positive should be directed to the nearest healthcare facility whose services should be covered by the people of Montana.

Surveillance testing at the border, on the 21 Interstate, US Highway and Montana State Highway crossings, all leading to innumerable “destination” communities, is the next best way to prevent COVID-19 virus from gaining a foothold in a state that as far as we know—with limited testing—is essentially virus-free.

We are confident that these two simple steps can keep Montana the last best place. If you want Montanans to be confident that they can send their children to public school in the fall, without the ominous prospect of a second wave of infections brought here from out-of-state, we petition you to revise your May 19, 2020 "Phase Two" Executive Directive accordingly before June 1.

Respectfully submitted,

The people of Montana who care for each other.