As of Wednesday, August 25, 2021, Montana reports 124,278 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 604 new cases reported in the last day: 106 new cases in Cascade County, 95 new cases in Yellowstone County, 79 new cases in Missoula County, 70 new cases in Flathead County, and more new cases in 40 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 4,109. All of Montana’s 56 counties report active coronavirus cases, and all new reported cases are the Delta variant of the coronavirus. Currently, 241 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. Five more people have died of COVID-19 since yesterday. Nationwide, more than 631,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 38,200,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

The CDC reports that unvaccinated people are 5 times more likely be infected with coronavirus and more than 29 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19. Vaccinated people are much less likely to have severe illness and may only have mild symptoms, if they contract COVID-19.

Booster doses of the Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot coronavirus vaccine generate a big spike in antibodies, the frontline immune system defenses against infection. People who received a booster six to eight months after their initial J&J shots saw antibodies increase nine times, providing a substantial defense against coronavirus.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) announced Tuesday it has canceled its 2021 annual meeting in Houston, citing the worsening Covid-19 situation there. Texas is seeing rapidly rising Covid-19 cases and shrinking ICU vacancies.

Union nurses negotiating a new contract with Bozeman Health have voted down a proposed contract and will go back to negotiations with the hospital. Prior to the vote, the nurses said the final offer was not commensurate with Bozeman’s cost of living, argued against having a 3-year contract and were unhappy with receiving performance-based wage increases.