As of Sunday, October 18, 2020, Montana reports 22,821 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 588 new cases reported in the last day: 127 in Yellowstone County, 80 in Flathead County, 57 in Gallatin County, 44 in both Hill and Silver Bow Counties, 33 in Lewis & Clark County, 32 in Missoula County, 18 in both Cascade and Big Horn Counties, 16 in Valley County, 15 in Deer Lodge County, and more new cases in 27 more Montana counties. Statewide, 1,010 people have been hospitalized, and 331 people are currently being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. There are 9,139 active coronavirus cases in Montana. The most active cases are in Yellowstone, Flathead and Glacier, Missoula, Cascade, and Gallatin Counties. 241 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Nationwide, more than 219,000 Americans have died. There have been 8,170,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

For several weeks Montana has now ranked among the worst states in the nation in new coronavirus cases per 100,000 population and the second-highest national test positivity rate for COVID-19. Healthcare providers and other officials in the state have warned of a growing crisis in the state. Dr. Bridget Brennan, the chief medical officer with Benefis Health Systems in Great Falls said that “the number of positive COVID cases is rising so quickly that it is threatening to overwhelm the health care resources here in the state.”

The Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge is in lockdown due to an outbreak of coronavirus in the facility. The lockdown started Friday after the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the prison jumped from 8 to 36, with another 23 cases in prison employees. Measures to contain the virus include extremely limited movement of inmates within the facility, isolating inmates with coronavirus to their cells or in cohort groups with other coronavirus-positive inmates.

Carroll College in Helena is reporting a 6% infection rate among its students of COVID-19, with 68 new cases in the last week.

Montana State University has received state funding from coronavirus relief funds to research a potentially faster and cheaper method of testing for coronavirus. The $776,000 grant will fund the university’s research on a type of COVID-19 test that could improve access to and speed of testing. The method, called loop-mediated isothermal amplification, or LAMP testing, relies on saliva as opposed to the commonly used nasal swab test. LAMP testing analyzes saliva samples in around 30 minutes and delivers results by changing the sample color to yellow if it’s positive for coronavirus. If the LAMP tests are approved for wide-scale testing, they would be used alongside the nasal swab tests. LAMP tests would allow public health officials to quickly identify those with a very high probability of having COVID-19 and then confirm those cases with a subsequent (nasal swab) test.