As of Friday, January 8, 2021, Montana reports 85,568 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 838 new cases reported in the last day: 125 in Gallatin County, 112 in Yellowstone County, 83 in Missoula County, 81 in Silver Bow County, 80 in Flathead County, 68 in Lewis & Clark County, and more new cases in 35 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 5,405. Statewide, 3,814 people have been hospitalized. Currently, 205 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. The most active cases are in Yellowstone, Gallatin, Cascade, Lewis & Clark, and Flathead Counties. 1,049 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. 11 more deaths of Montanans were reported in the last day. Nationwide, more than 369,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 22,000,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

Twitter permanently suspended President Donald Trump’s account on Friday, citing “the risk of further incitement of violence.” The president’s account, with 88 million followers, was initially banned for 12 hours on Wednesday due to “severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy,” after he used the platform to condemn Vice President Mike Pence as his supporters stormed the Capitol. “After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” the company said in a tweet. Almost immediately, the account that Trump had used for years to convey his every thought, to denounce his enemies and praise his friends, to convey uncountable false statements and official White House announcements, simply disappeared. It was suddenly impossible to see his previous tweets, or even to see his reaction to Twitter’s decision. Instead, his empty account had been marked: “Account suspended.” Trump’s attempts to tweet from associated accounts also were blocked. At one point, he was tweeting from his campaign account, but that was promptly suspended.

This was the second time in a week Twitter had taken action against the president’s account. Twitter removed three tweets that promoted conspiracy theories about the election and locked Trump’s account on Wednesday, citing “a risk of violence,” after a violent riot at the Capitol. Trump’s official @POTUS account is still active, but if the company determines he’s using it to evade the ban, it will take action to limit its use, a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement. About two hours after his ban, Trump did turn to the official @POTUS account, railing against Twitter, Democrats, and “the Radical Left,” in a series of tweets that were quickly deleted. A Twitter spokesperson said, “As we’ve said, using another account to try to evade a suspension is against our rules. We have taken steps to enforce this with regard to recent Tweets from the @POTUS.”

Twitter banned the president’s account after years of public pressure and several attempts to limit the reach of his account in recent days. Hundreds of Twitter employees recently signed a letter urging Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to ban the president for using the platform to incite violence in the wake of the Capitol siege. An employee at Twitter who has been pushing for the company to delete the president’s account this week told NBC News that “leadership took a beating” at a meeting Friday morning with employees, many of whom pleaded with executives to delete his account.

Gallatin County health officials have raised concerns about recent revisions to the state’s vaccine distribution plan, which prioritizes people over 70 and those between ages 16 and 69 with specific underlying health conditions over some essential workers and those living in group settings. The vaccination of older and more vulnerable Montanans could begin this month after the state finishes providing doses to frontline health care workers. Health Officer Matt Kelley said Thursday the changes to the distribution plan leave some key groups waiting longer to receive the vaccine. As a result, the Gallatin City-County Health Department is exploring whether it can deviate from the state plan. Delaying vaccinations of people in congregate settings, particularly jails, prisons and homes for adults with developmental disabilities, worries Kelley because of their history of COVID-19 outbreaks. He also questioned moving teachers and child care workers, both considered essential workers, farther down the priority list. “Those are people that we’re asking to go into settings where there’s often not adequate social distancing and where they’re serving young people who have very variable ability to keep a face covering on,” Kelley said. “… I personally feel like it would be advantageous not just to the teachers and the kids and the parents but to the economy to be able to offer vaccines to any teacher who’s working in a setting like that.”