As of Friday, July 10, 2020, Montana reports 1,593 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 127 new cases reported, again setting a record high for daily increase in cases. Four times in just ten days, Montana set records for daily coronavirus case growth: on July 2, 7 and 9, in addition to Friday, July 10. The 127 new cases in Montana include 54 new cases in Yellowstone County, 39 new cases in Gallatin County, 6 in Richland County, 5 new cases in each of Big Horn and Hill Counties, 3 new cases in Madison County, 2 new cases in each of Cascade, Glacier, Lake, Rosebud, and Teton Counties, and 1 new case in each of Broadwater, Carbon, Jefferson, Lewis & Clark, and Lincoln Counties. Statewide, 123 people have been hospitalized. Twenty-one people are currently being treated in the hospital for COVID-19. Yellowstone County has had the largest number of confirmed cases in any of the counties in the state of Montana, with 431 cases so far, surpassing Gallatin County, with 373 cases so far. 855 people have recovered from the disease. The most active cases are in Yellowstone County, with 254 active cases, followed by Gallatin County, with 137 active cases. There were also two additional deaths tied to the Canyon Creek Memory Care center in Billings, a man in his 90s and a man in his 80s, who both died Thursday. That brings to 28 the number of people who have died in Montana of COVID-19. Nationwide, more than 135,000 Americans have died.

The City of Missoula has unanimously approved a rule to require people over the age of 12 to wear face masks in a public setting. The rule is effective immediately. Missoula is the second jurisdiction in the state to pass a face mask requirement. Big Horn County was the first.

A popular downtown Bozeman bar, the Rockin’ R Bar, is closed through July 12 for contact tracing, and employees also are being tested for coronavirus. The restaurant, Hail Mary’s, is closed and will re-open for takeout orders only Saturday at noon.

COVID-19 begins as a respiratory virus and kills as a cardiovascular virus. COVID-19 attacks the circulatory system and vital organs like the kidneys, heart, and nerves, not just the lungs. Scientists have found that coronavirus wreaks havoc in the body through a combination of an attack on blood vessels and makes the immune system go haywire in cytokine storms. Autopsies on people who died of the coronavirus are helping doctors understand how the disease affects the body. One of the most remarkable findings concerned blood clotting. In the early stages of the pandemic, bedside clinicians noticed a lot of blood clotting “in lines and various large vessels. Autopsies revealed that clotting was not only in the large vessels but also in the smaller blood vessels. What is surprising is that clotting was found in almost every organ. The autopsies also showed something unusual about megakaryocytes, or large bone marrow cells. They usually don’t circulate outside the bones and lungs, but in coronavirus victims, they’re found in the heart and the kidneys and the liver and other organs. Notably in the heart, megakaryocytes produce blood platelets that are key to blood clotting.