As of Wednesday, June 24, 2020, Montana reports 766 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with twenty-three new cases reported in the last day: five cases in Missoula County, four cases in Yellowstone County, three in Gallatin County, two cases in each of Big Horn, Rosebud, and Treasure Counties, and one new case in each of Richland, Flathead, Dawson, Custer, and Cascade Counties. Statewide, 93 people have been hospitalized, and seventeen people are currently being treated in the hospital for COVID-19. Gallatin County has had 216 cases so far. 21 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Nationwide, more than 123,000 Americans have died.

The U.S. is seeing a “disturbing surge” of COVID-19 infections, particularly in the Southeast and West, Dr. Anthony Fauci says, with increasing cases in younger people in their 20s, 30s and 40s — increases that are driven in part by large gatherings. The coronavirus spreads mainly from person to person through respiratory droplets from coughing, sneezing, talking and singing. In Montana, 35% of coronavirus cases are people in their 20s and 30s.

Dr. Fauci has told all states it’s time to Issue Extremely Strict Stay-at-Home Orders and to stop allowing any exemptions to social-distancing guidelines, warning that forcing people to stay home across the nation is the “only thing we have” in the federal government’s arsenal to fight back against the coronavirus pandemic.

Visitors from coronavirus hotspots will have to quarantine for 14 days if they set foot in New York, New Jersey or Connecticut, the governors of those northeastern states said Wednesday. Eight states — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, Utah and Texas — have high enough infection rates to warrant the new quarantine advisory.

The New York City Marathon scheduled for Nov. 1 is canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Yakima County in Washington State has run out of hospital beds because of a recent spike in coronavirus cases — and now, Washington Governor Jay Inslee says the entire state is going to take a more aggressive approach to handling the pandemic. Everyone in Washington State will now have to wear a face mask, and will be charged with a misdemeanor crime if they fail to do so.

A Missoula city firefighter has tested positive for COVID-19. Thirty potential contacts, including law enforcement officers and ambulance personnel who worked closely with the firefighter, are now quarantined.