As of Wednesday, September 9, 2020, Montana reports 8,468 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 90 new cases reported in the last day: 32 in Flathead County, 9 in Fergus and Yellowstone Counties, 7 in Gallatin and Silver Bow Counties, 4 in Missoula County, 3 in Hill and Lake Counties, 2 in Cascade and Lewis & Clark Counties, and 1 in each of fourteen more Montana counties: Carbon, Custer, Dawson, Deer Lodge, Glacier, Liberty, Lincoln, Park, Ravalli, Roosevelt, Sanders, Stillwater, Sweet Grass, and Toole County. Statewide, 509 people have been hospitalized, and 163 people are currently being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. Yellowstone County has had 2,319 cases so far. Gallatin County has had 1,126. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 2,028. The most active cases are in Yellowstone County, with 813 active cases. Gallatin County has 40. 122 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Nationwide, more than 190,000 Americans have died. There have been 6,370,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.
Another five deaths from coronavirus infection were announced Wednesday. One of the new deaths was in Yellowstone County, where 50 people have now died as a result of COVID-19. That person was a man in his 80s and a resident of a senior living facility. The man died Tuesday at a county hospital. Another of the deaths reported on the state’s map Wednesday was in Meagher County. A woman in her 80s was at home and in isolation, Department. The woman who died is the first person to have died in Meagher County as a result of COVID-19.
A death was also reported in Lincoln County. The person who died was a woman in her 60s who died September 5. Three people have now died in Lincoln County as a result of COVID-19.
Big Horn County announced another two people had died as a result of COVID-19. Both people been hospitalized. One was a woman in her 60s and another was a woman in her 70s.
In early August, more than 460,000 motorcycle enthusiasts converged on Sturgis, S.D., for the 10-day Sturgis Motorcycle Rally where few wore facial coverings or practiced social distancing. A month later, thousands of people have been sickened with COVID-19 across the nation, leading researchers to brand the Sturgis rally a “superspreader” event of coronavirus.
The Bozeman School District welcomed half its students back for their first day of in-person classes since March on Tuesday. The district is implementing a blended school model, with half the student body attending in-person classes two days a week and learning online the other days. Masks are required when students and teachers are in in-person classes, and schools are introducing new protocols on hand washing, creating separate zones on playground, and other measures.
Great Falls Public Schools has two new cases of COVID-19, both in students. The positive cases are a student at Paris Gibson Education Center and a student in East Middle School. Together with the GFPS nursing staff and school administrators, the health department completed contact tracing on the infected individuals. The cases were students who had not been in school recently, so administrators said deep sanitizing of the schools was not necessary. School will continue at both locations.
Little Big Horn College on the Crow Indian Reservation is waiving tuition and student fees amid the coronavirus pandemic. Course registration closes in mid-September. The Little Big Horn College plans to offer a mix of online only and hybrid courses to limit the number of students on campus. The college is using federal coronavirus relief funding to offset tuition. Big Horn County, where the college is located, has been hit hard by COVID-19, with 735 cases and 19 deaths, two more of which were announced by the Big Horn County health department on Wednesday.