As of Saturday, December 5, 2020, Montana reports 67,069 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 743 new cases reported in the last day: 109 in Yellowstone County, 97 in Gallatin County, 93 in Missoula County, 85 in Lewis & Clark County, 57 in Flathead County, 46 in Ravalli County, 41 in Cascade County, and more new cases in 38 more Montana counties. Statewide, 2,815 people have been hospitalized, and 466 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 16,425. The most active cases are in Yellowstone and Flathead County, Cascade, Lewis & Clark, and Missoula Counties. 734 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Seven more people have died of COVID in the last day. Nationwide, more than 279,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 14,400,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

Gov. Steve Bullock said all of the state’s $1.25 billion allocation of federal funds to help Montana deal with the coronavirus have been exhausted prior to a deadline later this month. Governor Bullock remains hopeful that Congress will allocate more money. “This is a storm that cannot be weathered without federal support,” Bullock said. Bullock said the $1.25 billion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act was a large sum, it was still not enough to alleviate all the financial impacts of COVID-19. Montana received its allocation as part of a $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package passed by Congress. The governor, now in the final days of his second term, said nearly $833 million of the funds went to more than two-dozen grant programs that benefit businesses, schools, nonprofits, individuals and government entities. He said the most in demand was the business stabilization grant in which $254 million was offered.

And when asked what Montanans can do to ward off the spread of the respiratory illness that has now killed more than 727 residents, and to reduce the deaths, the governor was quick on Wednesday to offer some guidance. “Wear the damn mask,” he said. “I mean, stay home.” He said there was reason for optimism with vaccines coming out, but that they would not be widely distributed for some time.

A Wyoming Department of Health official involved in the state’s response to the coronavirus questioned the legitimacy of the pandemic and described a forthcoming vaccine as a biological weapon at a recent event. He said the quote “so-called pandemic” unquote and efforts to develop a vaccine are plots by Russia and China to spread communism worldwide. Igor Shepherd is the Wyoming Dept. of Health department readiness and countermeasures manager. Shepherd’s baseless and unsubstantiated claims undermined Wyoming’s public health measures — and public exhortations — to limit the spread of the virus, as well as its plans to distribute Covid-19 vaccines in the months ahead. Even so, Wyoming officials including Gov. Mark Gordon, who at a recent news conference called people not taking the virus seriously “knuckleheads,” declined to comment.