As of Wednesday, July 14, 2021, Montana reports 114,508 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 95 new cases reported since Friday: 33 new cases in Flathead County, 12 new cases in Yellowstone County, 11 new cases in Gallatin County, 9 new cases in Missoula County, and more new cases in 16 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 465. Currently, 62 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. The most active cases are in Flathead, Yellowstone, Cascade, and Missoula Counties. 1,683 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Nine more deaths have been reported since yesterday. Nationwide, more than 607,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 33,900,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

France is mandating Covid-19 passes for restaurants, shopping malls, hospitals, and transportation, including flights. French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday ordered all French health care workers to get Covid-19 vaccine shots by Sept. 15. Macron also mandated special Covid-19 passes for anyone who wants to go to a restaurant, shopping mall or hospital or get on a train or plane.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is discouraging any floating on the Smith River. A wildfire burning in the Smith River corridor has heightened safety concerns for residents and firefighters; the Meagher County Sheriff’s office issued a pre-evacuation notice for the Smith River corridor from Camp Baker to the confluence with Blacktail Creek due to the Ellis Fire, which has grown to more than 900 acres.

Mining contamination in a spill in Upper Ten Mile Creek is raising concerns over Helena city water. The EPA is testing the water. The Upper Ten Mile Creek Mining Area is a 53-square-mile site located just southwest and uphill of Helena and includes about 150 active and abandoned mines in the historic Rimini Mining District.

State officials are investigating the June 25 suicide of a 17-year-old girl at a therapeutic boarding school in northwest Montana. The girl, adopted from Russia by an American, hanged herself at Reflections Academy, a 24-bed secure boarding school for troubled teenage girls age 13-18 outside Thompson Falls. The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, which oversees the troubled teen industry in Montana, is investigating the death.