As of Tuesday, June 16, 2020, Montana reports 614 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with five new cases reported in the last day: two in Custer County, two in Missoula County, and one in Yellowstone County. Statewide, 79 people have been hospitalized, and eight people are currently being treated in the hospital for COVID-19. There have been 188 cases so far in Gallatin County. 19 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Nationwide, more than 118,000 Americans have died.

Researchers in Britain have found that a common steroid drug, dexamethasone, cheap and widely available, can help save the lives of patients seriously ill with coronavirus. Dexamethasone has been shown to reduce COVID-19 deaths by a third in the sickest patients in the hospital. This is the first time, the British researchers say, that a drug has been shown to have an effect on deaths rates of the virus. The steroid drug helps most with patients on ventilators; researchers at the University of Oxford in the U.K. found that COVID-19 patient deaths were reduced by about a third in patients who were on ventilators, and deaths were reduced by about 20 percent in patients who had trouble breathing and were on oxygen. The drug did not appear to help patients who did not require oxygen.

The border between Canada and the United States will remain closed to non-essential travel for another month. The agreement between the two nations will keep the border closed to all non-essential travel until July 21, even as both countries continue to reopen their economies. The agreement exempts the flow of trade and commerce, as well as vital health-care workers such as nurses who live and work on opposite sides of the border, but tourists and cross-border visits remain prohibited. This is the third time the agreement has been extended, after first being imposed in March. This extension on the border closure will last until at least July 21.

On Friday, June 19 and Saturday, June 20, Park County will have free drive-through and walk-up community testing for COVID-19. The testing is for asymptomatic people. All are welcome. If you have children you’d like tested, they must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Testing in Gardiner will be offered on Friday, June 20 at the Gardiner High School parking lot from one in the afternoon to seven p.m. Then on Saturday, testing in Livingston will be at the Park High School parking lot from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.