As of Tuesday, February 22, 2022. Montana reports 263,358 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 1,070 new cases of coronavirus infection reported since Friday: 226 new cases in Flathead County, 128 new cases in Cascade County, 102 new cases in Yellowstone County, 92 new cases in Missoula County, and more new cases in 41 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 2,315. Of Montana’s 56 counties, 51 report active cases. Currently, 212 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. 3,125 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Twenty more people’s deaths have been reported since Friday. Nationwide, more than 935,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 78,400,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

As people across the world grapple with the prospect of living with the coronavirus for the foreseeable future, one question looms large: How soon before they need yet another shot? Not for many months, and perhaps not for years, according to a flurry of new studies. Three doses of a COVID vaccine — or even just two — are enough to protect most people from serious illness and death for a long time, the studies suggest.

In a blow to public access advocates that has drawn national attention, a federal court judge has recommended ruling in favor of the Custer Gallatin National Forest and private landowners on the west side of the Crazy Mountains in a long-running dispute over four historic trails. U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy Cavan granted a decision to halt an attempt to force the Forest Service to defend historic trail access rights for public across private lands.

Amtrak is using the Empire Builder route that rolls through Montana to debut new locomotives that are cleaner, faster and more fuel-efficient than their predecessors. Engines 301 and 302, part of the westbound train from Chicago to Seattle, are among the first of 75 ALC-42 locomotives.