As of Tuesday, April 27, 2021, Montana reports 108,287 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 206 new cases reported in the last day: 68 in Gallatin County, 24 in Yellowstone County, 20 in Cascade County, 12 in Lewis & Clark County, 10 in Ravalli County, and more new cases in 25 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 953. Currently, 47 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. The most active cases are in Gallatin, Yellowstone, and Cascade Counties. 1,566 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Three more deaths have been reported in the last day. Nationwide, more than 572,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 32,200,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased guidelines Tuesday on the wearing of face masks outdoors, saying fully vaccinated Americans don’t need to cover their faces anymore unless they are in a big crowd of strangers. And those who are unvaccinated can go outside without masks in some cases, too.

The deadline for a Real ID for air travel has been pushed back due to the coronavirus pandemic. The deadline was supposed to be Oct. 1, but the Department of Homeland Security is extending it because the pandemic made it harder for motorists to go to their DMVs. The deadline has been pushed back 19 months to May 3, 2023.

Dozens of guest workers from Jamaica have reached a $1 million settlement in a lawsuit against an exclusive Montana ski resort — The Yellowstone Club, home to business titans and Hollywood celebrities — of shortchanging their tips and wages and discriminating against them.

The United States Supreme Court will consider how much protection the Second Amendment provides for carrying a gun outside the home. The Supreme Court accepted the case, the first time in more than a decade that the court has agreed to take up a central issue of the gun rights debate, something it has consistently ducked since issuing a landmark ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008 that the Second Amendment provides an individual right to keep a handgun at home for self-defense.
The court agreed to hear a challenge to a New York state law that allows residents to carry a concealed handgun only if they can demonstrate a special need beyond a general desire for self-protection.

The National Park Service plans to launch an automated shuttle service in Yellowstone National Park next month to inform long-term decisions about transportation in national parks. Yellowstone National Park announced earlier this week that two automated shuttles arrived in the park for a pilot project.