As of Monday, August 24, 2020, Montana reports 6,489 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 52 new cases reported in the last day: 17 in Cascade County, 10 in Flathead County, 5 in Powell and in Yellowstone County, 4 in Big Horn and in Gallatin County, 3 in Sanders County, and 1 in each of Broadwater, Carbon, Hill, and Missoula Counties. Statewide, 383 people have been hospitalized, and 114 people are currently being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. Yellowstone County has had 1,797 cases so far, and Gallatin County has had 1,017. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 1,556. The most active cases are in Yellowstone County, with 781 active cases. Gallatin County has 21 active cases. 91 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Nationwide, more than 177,000 Americans have died. There have been 5,710,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

A wedding reception in Maine is linked to 53 coronavirus cases, including a woman who died but who wasn’t at the event. She was later infected with COVID-19 from a guest. Nearly half of the 53 cases are people who didn’t go to the wedding. 65 people went to the August 7 reception, which was largely indoors, and exceeded the state’s indoor limit of 50 people. The median age of known infected people among the outbreak is 42 years old, but there’s a wide range from 4 years old to 98 in people sick with coronavirus from this one event. It’s not the first time a celebration has been associated with a somber if not lethal outcome. in North Carolina, a single family gathering was responsible for at least 40 cases. More than two dozen people were reportedly in attendance. People did not wear masks or observe physical distancing at this gathering, and 14 people who attended subsequently tested positive for COVID-19. In May, a birthday party in Pasadena, California, made national headlines when it was linked to the infection of at least five people, several of whom became seriously ill.

Some US schools are keeping quiet about coronavirus infections. In areas where schools are open and the pandemic is still raging, some districts have issued weekly, sometimes daily, reports. But other districts have been silent, to the dismay of anxious parents, teachers and health workers. A school district in Kingsland, Georgia is one that doesn’t report coronavirus cases. A doctor with the Harvard Global Health Initiative denounced the policy, saying, “You don’t scare people by telling them what’s going on. You scare them by hiding information.” But notification policies vary widely. Some states, like Oklahoma, do not require school districts to report COVID-19 cases to health departments. And some states that do, including Maine, say that privacy concerns prevent officials from sharing details with the public. In Bozeman, Montana State University has said it will not share information on coronavirus infections among students and staff.

A face mask directive is in effect in Montana, requiring everyone five years old and older to wear face masks in public settings in counties with four cases or coronavirus or more / in an effort to curb the transmission of coronavirus. Face masks are required in outdoor settings where social distancing is not observed, including outdoor gatherings of 50 or more people. Keep employing these healthy habits to help slow the spread of COVID-19:
• Wear a cloth mask when you go out in public
• maintain social distancing, which means a distance of at least six feet from others. Social distancing means no play dates with other kids. No visits with neighbors, no chatting at someone’s door, no carpooling.
• Wash your hands frequently for at least 20 seconds each time
• Clean and disinfect frequently used surfaces
• Avoid touching your face

Face mask and social distancing protocols work like this: You don’t give the virus to anyone – You don’t get it from anyone.