As of Monday, October 5, 2020, Montana reports 14,847 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 212 new cases reported in the last day: 34 in Yellowstone County, 33 in Roosevelt County, 32 in Cascade County, 20 in Deer Lodge County, 11 in Lewis & Clark County, 9 in both Big Horn and Hill Counties, 6 in Pondera County, 6 in Silver Bow County, 5 in each of Fergus, Gallatin, and Richland Counties, 4 in Rosebud and in Valley County, and new cases in 20 more Montana counties. Statewide, 754 people have been hospitalized, and 201 people are currently being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 5,008. The most active cases are in Yellowstone County, with 1,164 active cases. Gallatin County has 318. 190 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Nationwide, more than 210,000 Americans have died. There have been 7,450,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

A Massachusetts High School went exclusively to online-only classes Monday after several students attended a party and risked exposure to the coronavirus. Falmouth High School announced that several students attended a weekend party “while not wearing masks and not practicing physical distancing.” The school closed to all in-person classes as a result, saying it was unwilling to risk the health of other students, staff, and teachers. Schools are starting to take hard-line approaches after incidents where parents sent their Attleboro High School student to school after a positive coronavirus test result, endangering students and teachers, and all of the related contacts with all of those people. And higher education institutions have evicted or suspended undergraduates for throwing parties and flouting social distancing guidelines.

The coronavirus pandemic is taking another dangerous upswing across the United States, especially across the Midwest and Mountain West. One in five states is now “at a tipping point” for COVID-19 infections. The number of high-risk states includes Montana. 10 states, including North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Montana and Idaho—have 25 or more new positive COVID-19 cases every day per 100,000 people. At that level of spread, states should be under stay-at-home orders, according to Harvard and Brown University researchers. The spread of the disease accelerated across America’s heartland and mountain west during September. Montana’s neighbors, North Dakota and South Dakota, have the highest and second-highest risk levels for numbers of increases of coronavirus cases. Alarmingly, the numbers are going in the wrong direction, as 28 states — a majority of the country — are experiencing an increase in new cases compared to last week, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The New York Times coronavirus case tracking website ranks Montana fourth in the nation for spiking coronavirus cases behind North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Montana has reported another five deaths from COVID-19: two deaths in Hill County, two men in their 70s in Cascade County, and another death in Roosevelt County. Montana has reported ten more hospitalizations in the past day. Montana now has the most hospitalizations it’s had thus far in the coronavirus pandemic. Last week Benefis Hospital in Great Falls was at 115% capacity and bed capacity in Billings was of particular concern. Billings Clinic called the surge situation “a crisis” following the announcement the clinic was turning to a vacant care home facility for other patients.