As of Wednesday, March 10, 2021, Montana reports 101,243 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 152 new cases reported in the last day: 36 in Missoula County, 31 in Flathead County, 21 in Gallatin County, 15 in Yellowstone County, and more new cases in 21 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 1,459. Currently, 52 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. The most active cases are in Yellowstone, Flathead, Missoula, and Gallatin Counties. 1,387 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Two more deaths have been reported since yesterday. Nationwide, more than 527,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 29,200,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

President Joe Biden announced plans to purchase an additional 100 million doses of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine, giving the U.S. more than enough supply to vaccinate the entire U.S. population. President Biden is directing his Health and Human Services team to procure the additional doses. The President said this month that the U.S. was on track to have enough vaccine doses for every adult in the country to get vaccinated by the end of May after the Food and Drug Administration gave clearance for use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The U.S. had already secured deals for enough vaccine doses for every adult even without the addition of the J&J vaccine as of last month when the U.S. finalized a deal with Pfizer and Moderna for 200 million more coronavirus vaccine doses by the end of July. But having the agreement in place with J&J for an additional 100 million doses could help serve as a backstop should Pfizer or Moderna run into manufacturing issues.

The US House of Representatives is expected to pass the most comprehensive Covid-19 relief bill to date, a $1.9 trillion package that will deliver $1,400 stimulus checks to millions of Americans, extend enhanced unemployment benefits and boost funding to ramp up vaccine distribution and reopen schools. The House is set to vote on the measure late Wednesday morning, and then the bill will head to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature. The Senate passed the bill in a 50-49 vote last week after making changes to the original version passed by the House.

COVID-19 is spreading through Bozeman School District faster than the rest of the community, especially in the high schools, and Bozeman School District administrators are urging everyone to remain vigilant and maintain safety measures to ensure in-person learning can continue. School administrators at Monday evening’s school board meeting expressed concern over a four-week trend in Bozeman and Gallatin high schools showing high transmission levels and highlighted multiple instances of classroom transmission. “While the news of vaccine clinics give us a lot of celebration and hope, we have some alarming trends,” said interim co-superintendent Casey Bertram on Monday. Since the week of Feb. 12, the high schools have had a higher rate of COVID-19 transmission than the rest of the county. This comes after the high schools transitioned to four days of in-person learning on Jan. 27. The district also began seeing instances of classroom transmission across the elementary, middle and high school levels late last week, raising additional concerns. While the elementary schools have consistently been below the community COVID-19 transmission rate, in the last week Emily Dickinson Elementary School has reported an increase in student and staff quarantines. As of Monday, 104 students were in quarantine and 10 staff were in quarantine, representing roughly 22% and 14% of the population, respectively.

A COVID-19 strain referred to as the South African variant has been identified in Teton County, Wyoming. A sample from a Teton County resident who tested positive for the virus in January was sequenced and the variant was identified. The person who tested positive had not traveled prior to becoming infected. The Wyoming Department of Health has not announced any other cases identified as the B.1.351 variant, which was first discovered in South Africa.