As of Monday, August 30, 2021, Montana reports 126,338 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 736 new cases reported in the last day: 145 new cases in Yellowstone County, 115 new cases in Missoula County, 59 new cases in Flathead County, 53 new cases in Gallatin County, and more new cases in 38 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 4,822. Currently, 223 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. 1,787 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Nationwide, more than 637,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 38,900,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

An unvaccinated and unmasked elementary school teacher who went to school with symptoms of illness including cough, fever, and headache spread COVID-19 to school students. Some of the affected children at the Marin County, California, school went on to infect other students, their siblings and their parents. Health officials investigated the classroom outbreak three days after the teacher tested positive for COVID-19. Twelve of the teacher’s 24 students tested positive for coronavirus.

Montana State University has received a gift of $101 million for the MSU College of Nursing. It’s the largest gift MSU has ever received, and the largest gift ever given to a college of nursing in the United States. Robyn and Mark Jones, the founders of Goosehead Insurance, donated the money. The money will be used to erect new teaching buildings for MSU College of Nursing campuses in Bozeman, Billings, Great Falls, Kalispell and Missoula. The money will also fund five endowed professorships, which are the first in the history of the MSU College of Nursing. Some of the money will also go to scholarships.

Bozeman is loosening drought restrictions in the city as weather conditions and water levels improve in the region. Bozeman had declared a stage two drought, which restricted lawn watering and added surcharges to water rates. Now, Bozeman is returning to a stage one drought.