As of Wednesday, September 30, 2020, Montana reports 13,071 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with another new state high number of cases, 348, reported in the last day: 74 in Yellowstone County, 64 in Flathead County, 46 in Glacier County, 32 in Gallatin County, 31 in Missoula County, 10 in Roosevelt County, 8 in Beaverhead and in Rosebud County, 6 in each off Hill, Lewis & Clark, Powder River, and in Valley Counties, 5 in Pondera and in Ravalli County, 4 in each of Richland and in Toole Counties, and new cases in each of sixteen more Montana counties. Statewide, 717 people have been hospitalized, and 170 people are currently being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. Yellowstone County has had 3,331 cases so far. Gallatin County has had 1,412. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 3,635. The most active cases are in Yellowstone County, with 906 active cases. Gallatin County has 147. 180 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Nationwide, more than 206,000 Americans have died. There have been 7,220,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

In the past week, Montana has reported more than 300 new cases of coronavirus infections each day. Those are new state high numbers of coronavirus cases, the most in a one-week period since the pandemic began in March.

Disney is laying off 28,000 workers amid the continued strain from the coronavirus pandemic. Disney closed its California parks and is operating at a reduced capacity at its open parks in Florida and around the world. Florida, which is home to Walt Disney World, SeaWorld Orlando and Universal Orlando, allowed theme parks to reopen over the summer, despite sharp spikes in case numbers. SeaWorld also furloughed 95 percent of its employees after closing all of its parks, and cut executives’ base salaries by 20 percent. Disney furloughed many workers since April, and was continuing to pay health benefits but with the layoffs, will no longer pay any benefits, including health care coverage.

Tampa International Airport is the first airport in the U.S. to offer COVID-19 tests for all incoming and outgoing flyers. The airport has set up testing sites within its main terminal and while the sites officially open on Thursday, some passengers have already begun taking the two tests available for purchase. Before boarding or after landing, travelers can get a $57 antigen test with an 88 percent accuracy rate that gives results within 15 minutes, or a $125 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test that has 95 percent accuracy but takes 48 hours to deliver results. Departing passengers who test positive for the antigen would be advised not to board. Despite the testing, several uncertainties remain, including that the test would not be able to detect an exposure to the coronavirus on a flight because the incubation period is longer than the few hours most travelers are in the air. It is still recommended that travelers quarantine for fourteen days after travel in case they contracted coronavirus while traveling.