As of Thursday, August 13, 2020, Montana reports 5,407 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 142 new cases reported in the last day: 37 in Yellowstone County, 13 in Big Horn County, 12 in Gallatin County, 11 in Phillips County, 10 in Missoula County, 7 in each of Dawson, Flathead, and Valley Counties, 5 in each of Glacier, Lewis & Clark, and Rosebud Counties, 4 in Fergus County, 3 in each of Beaverhead, Cascade, and Park Counties, 2 in Carbon County, and 1 in each of Granite, Lincoln, Ravalli, Richland, Roosevelt, Sanders, Silver Bow, and Stillwater Counties.

In just the past seven days, Phillips County with a population of about 4,000 people has gone from zero cases to 78 cases of coronavirus infection. Phillips County COVID-19 cases spiked there following social and sporting events: People were infected at a wedding, then through softball teams, then at bars. Most cases are people in their twenties and thirties, and the cases are community spread.

Statewide, 315 people have been hospitalized, and 101 people currently are being treated in the hospital for COVID-19. Yellowstone County has had 1,424 cases so far, and Gallatin County has had 970. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 1,389. The most active cases are in Yellowstone County, with 546 active cases, while Gallatin County has 41 active cases. 81 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Nationwide, more than 166,000 Americans have died.

The Kentucky governor is pleading with schools to delay in-person instruction as coronavirus cases climb in Kentucky. Gov. Andy Beshear has issued an order to delay in-person instruction until Sept. 28 as coronavirus cases in the state continue to climb. Kentucky recorded its highest number of new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, and the governor says in-person instruction remains unsafe.

Another assisted living facility in Montana has positive cases of COVID-19; the latest is Goldstone Assisted Living in Great Falls. Although the facility reports multiple cases, they wouldn’t specify how many. On July 28th, a Goldstone resident was hospitalized and tested positive for COVID-19 the following day. An outbreak of six COVID-19 cases in a long-term care facility in Cascade County was reported last Tuesday. The coronavirus is known to be particularly dangerous to older adults and other vulnerable populations in long-term care settings. There have been deadly outbreaks in other Montana senior care facilities, including the Immanuel Lutheran assisted living facility in Kalispell, and at Canyon Creek Memory Care in Billings, where 16 of 55 residents have died of COVID-19. Another Yellowstone County senior living facility had a resident die of COVID-19 at that facility.

School-aged child care programs are slated to get the most from a $50 million program in Montana’s coronavirus relief fund. The payments will be doled out to child care providers, families, and outreach groups, and are intended to bolster the state’s child care system during the COVID-19 pandemic. The intent is to ease the strain that the pandemic has put on families with school-aged children, with $30 million of the money headed to programs that serve school-aged children. The out-of-school definition is a broad term that includes time earmarked for online-only learning. That would include a scenario where school buildings are forced to shutter, like they did when the pandemic first hit last spring, or for hybrid models like that being proposed in Bozeman Public Schools, where students are expected to be in school buildings for two days a week, and learning online three days a week.

The Big Sky Conference has postponed all fall sports until 2021 due to concerns surrounding COVID-19. This decision impacts all Big Sky sports that compete in the fall both for their championship season, which includes men’s and women’s cross country, soccer, and volleyball, and for their non-championship segment, including men’s and women’s golf, softball, and men’s and women’s tennis. Additionally, the Presidents’ Council confirmed that non-conference contests will not be permitted in any Big Sky fall sport, including football. Decisions regarding the Big Sky Conference’s winter sports (men’s and women’s basketball, and men’s and women’s indoor track and field) will be made at a later date.

Montana school students and staff will be required to wear masks when they return to class later this month. Governor Bullock has issued a directive mandating Montanans wear masks inside businesses, public buildings and schools in counties with four or more COVID-19 cases.