As of Wednesday, August 19, 2020, Montana reports 5,956 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 111 new cases reported in the last day: 56 in Yellowstone County, 18 in Rosebud County, 9 in Big Horn County, 3 in each of Carbon, Gallatin, Lewis & Clark, Missoula, and Phillips Counties, 2 in Lake and Sanders Counties, and 1 in each of Cascade, Custer, Fergus, Flathead, Jefferson, Madison, Park, Ravalli, and Wibaux Counties. Statewide, 348 people have been hospitalized, and 102 people are currently being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. Yellowstone County has had 1,595 cases so far. Gallatin County has had 996. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 1,515. The most active cases are in Yellowstone County, with 650 active cases. Gallatin County has 33 active cases. 84 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Nationwide, more than 172,000 Americans have died. There have been 5.5 million COVID-19 cases in the United States, and counting.

8 days into the fall semester, the University of Notre Dame has halted in-person classes as 146 students and a staff member have gotten coronavirus. The two-week suspension means that all of the school’s 12,000 students can quarantine and Notre Dame will conduct classes online only. Most of the sick Notre Dame students were living off-campus and contracted the disease at gatherings where social distancing was not followed and masks weren’t worn, the school said, citing a contact tracing analysis. The shutdown of Notre Dame came one day after the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill also ended in-person classes for the fall semester. UNC Chapel Hill became the first university in the United States to abandon in-person classes after reopening for the fall semester on Aug. 10. Five school employees and 130 students tested positive for coronavirus. And Michigan State University on Tuesday ordered undergrads to stay home for the rest of the fall, effective immediately, going solely to online classes.

In Sturgis, South Dakota, city officials estimate that 490,000 motorcyclists attended the 10-day Sturgis Motorcycle Rally that ended this past weekend. Many rallygoers packed close together at bars and rock shows. The South Dakota Department of Health issued a warning on Tuesday that a person who spent several hours at a bar on Main Street in Sturgis has tested positive for COVID-19 and most likely spread it to others. With people traveling to the rally from all over the country, the mass gathering raised concerns it could become an epicenter of infections that are hard to track, but spread quickly as rallygoers travel home.

The general election this fall, slated for November 3rd, will be a mail-ballot election in Gallatin County. Ballots will be mailed to voters a month before, on October 9, and return postage is paid. Voters can vote in person at the county election department in Bozeman, which will be open additional hours leading up to Election Day, November 3rd. Election officials are also planning to have satellite offices on specific dates in other towns, like Three Forks and Manhattan, where residents will be able to register to vote or to vote in person. Ballot Drop-off boxes will also be placed throughout the county for the month leading up to the election. Residents wishing to register to vote or update their registration can do so at the election department or can mail, fax or email in a registration form as long as it has a written — not digital — signature. At least 25 counties — including Missoula and Lewis and Clark Counties—will hold mail-ballot elections. At least six have decided to have polling-place elections.