As of Thursday, October 28, 2021, Montana reports 175,070 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 998 new cases of coronavirus infection reported since yesterday: 183 new cases in Yellowstone County, 113 new cases in Flathead County, 108 new cases in Gallatin County, 104 new cases in Missoula County, 95 new cases in Cascade County, 62 new cases in Lewis & Clark County, and more new cases in 42 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 11,202. Currently, 454 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. 2,329 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Eight more people’s deaths of COVID-19 have been reported since yesterday. Nationwide, more than 741,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 45,700,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

Republican Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen on Wednesday confirmed that his Chief Deputy Attorney General Kristen Hansen was one of the public officials involved in an incident involving St. Peter’s Health in Helena earlier this month. The hospital last week issued a statement saying “several of our providers and care team members who are working tirelessly at the bedside were harassed and threatened by three public officials.”

The Lincoln and Augusta branches of the Lewis & Clark Library will be closed until further notice, due to a surge in COVID numbers in the communities. Lincoln schools shut down Wednesday until Nov. 8 because of COVID cases.

A federal judge has granted a stay in a court case seeking to save endangered salmon runs on the Columbia and Snake rivers. U.S. District Judge Michael Simon in Portland, Oregon, granted a request by both sides in the lawsuit seeking the stay until July of next year, so they can try to negotiate a settlement in the lawsuit.