As of Saturday, August 8, 2020, Montana reports 4,889 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 133 new cases reported in the last day: 49 in Yellowstone County, 15 in Gallatin County, 14 in Big Horn County, 10 in Missoula County, 8 in Flathead County, 7 in Phillips County, 5 in Madison County, 4 in Lewis & Clark County, 3 new cases in each of Glacier, Granite, and Toole Counties, 2 in each of Cascade, Chouteau, and Lincoln Counties, and 1 in each of Beaverhead, Carbon, Jefferson, Roosevelt, Rosebud and Stillwater Counties. Statewide, 268 people have been hospitalized, and 81 people are currently being treated in the hospital for COVID-19. Yellowstone County has had 1,261 cases so far, and Gallatin County has had 930. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 1,559. The most active cases are in Yellowstone County, with 535 active cases, while Gallatin County has 57 active cases. 75 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Nationwide, more than 161,000 Americans have died.

Five more people died in Montana on Friday of COVID-19. A Cascade County man over 65 with underlying health conditions died. Officials said his death was not related to the outbreak of coronavirus cases in an assisted living facility in Cascade County. Two men from the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation in northeastern Montana died, one a man in his fifties, and the other in his sixties. A stay-at-home mandate remains in effect on the Rocky Boy Reservation as ordered by the Chippewa Cree Tribe, as well as a curfew, to try to prevent the spread of coronavirus. In southeastern Montana, the Crow Tribe ordered its members to lock down for two weeks beginning Friday as tribal leaders moved to slow a sharp spike in coronavirus cases and deaths.

116 students in a school district in Mississippi have been sent home to quarantine for two weeks after the first week of school in Corinth, Mississippi. After just the first week of school, six students and one teacher had tested positive for COVID-19 — and now, at least 116 students have been sent home to quarantine. The cases span the district’s elementary, middle and high schools. Students now required to quarantine were considered to be in “close contact” with a positive case, meaning they were within six feet for 15 minutes or longer.

A seven-year-old boy from Georgia with no underlying health conditions became the youngest person in that state to die from coronavirus, a day after president Donald Trump said children are “almost immune from the disease”. The seven-year-old from Savannah, Georgia, died after suffering a seizure in response to the virus. A six-year-old girl from Tennessee and a six-year-old boy from Nebraska also died from coronavirus this past week. The previous youngest person to die in Georgia from Covid-19 was a 17-year-old.

Tens of thousands of motorcyclists roared into the western South Dakota community on Friday, lining Main Street from end to end, for the start of the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally that kicked off despite objections from residents and with little regard for a public health emergency ravaging the world. The 10-day affair is expected to attract about 250,000 enthusiasts this year — about half the number who attended last year but a figure that puts it on track to be among the country’s largest public gatherings since the first coronavirus cases emerged in the spring. Over the past week, there’s been an upswing in coronavirus cases in South Dakota: a 31 percent increase over the previous two weeks.

Anyone who attended a car show in Shelby last weekend may have been exposed to COVID-19. The Shelby Street Fair and Car Show took place last Saturday. Health workers are now asking people who attended to monitor their health through Aug. 15 for signs of COVID-19. Symptoms to watch for include headache, cough, sore throat, body aches, chills and fatigue.

Less than a day after the Big Sky conference canceled its 2020 college football season after a vote among the conference’s 13 teams, the Conference announced Friday the league’s football season will move to the spring semester. Non-conference play for Big Sky football programs is pending. Montana State has one non-conference game remaining against Dixie State on Sept. 19. The league is exploring modified versions of a spring conference schedule. MSU has players practicing full workouts this weekend, without face masks or social distancing.