As of Thursday, July 30, 2020, Montana reports 3,814 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 138 new cases reported in the last day: 34 in Yellowstone County, 30 in Big Horn County, 20 in Gallatin County, 10 in Missoula County, 7 in Flathead County, 6 in Lewis & Clark County, 4 in Silver Bow County, 3 in each of Cascade, Park, Roosevelt, and Valley Counties, 2 in each of Carbon, Dawson, Deer Lodge, and Judith Basin Counties, and 1 in each of Beaverhead, Fergus, Jefferson, Madison, Powell, Ravalli, and wheatland Counties. Statewide, 221 people have been hospitalized, and 69 people are currently being treated in the hospital for COVID-19. Yellowstone County has had 983 cases so far, and Gallatin County has had 833. Montana has 1,519 active cases of COVID-19. The most active cases are in Yellowstone County, with 568 active cases. Gallatin County has 156 active cases. 55 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Nationwide, more than 154,000 Americans have died.

The second-largest teachers’ union in the United States announced on Tuesday that it would support its 1.7 million members if they choose to strike in districts and states that move to reopen classrooms without adequate health and safety measures. The American Federation of Teachers is pushing for schools to wait to reopen classrooms until coronavirus transmission rates in a community fall below 1 percent and average daily positive test rates stay below 5 percent — something that very few places have achieved: only two of the nation’s 10 largest school districts could reopen under that threshold.

Washington, D.C. public schools will go to full-time computer distance learning and will not reopen schools to in-person classes this fall. Officials have abandoned their initial plans to use a combination of distance and in-person instruction. All of the surrounding school districts in northern Virginia and southern Maryland have made the same decision to conduct online learning only.

Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain has died of COVID-19 at the age of 74. Cain had tested positive on June 29 for COVID-19, a week after he attended a Trump campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 20.

In Yellowstone National Park, two concession employees and three visitors with COVID-19 symptoms have tested positive for coronavirus. The two national park employees were isolated and mitigation steps were taken, and health officials led contact tracing. The first employee experienced COVID-19 symptoms while away from the park and was tested outside of Yellowstone. Once the positive test was confirmed, the employee was isolated. Based on contact tracing by health officials, the employee had limited interactions with visitors or employees. The second employee had symptoms while in the park, was tested at the clinic, and tested positive for coronavirus. The employee was immediately isolated while contact tracing occurred. Several other employees were quarantined as a precaution. Three separate visitors sought medical assistance at Yellowstone clinics, were tested, and tested positive. One visitor spent one night in the park and the other did not stay overnight. It is highly likely these visitors had the virus prior to entering the park. The third visitor was tested outside the park after visiting for a week.

116 cases of COVID-19 were transmitted among workers at a construction site in Big Sky. Contractors took steps to limit the spread after an outbreak at the site in March, but they didn’t work. The construction site of the $400 million Montage Big Sky luxury resort at the Spanish Peaks Mountain Club, where residences range in price from $6 million to $18 million has an outbreak of illness that is one of the largest in the state. The coronavirus outbreak affects workers traveling to work in the community from outside of Gallatin and Madison counties, where Big Sky is located. The construction site was an early source of infection in Montana, with six workers testing positive in March. At the time, Suffolk Construction, the Boston-based general contractor for the project, said it was taking extensive steps to limit the spread of COVID-19, including temperature checks, six-foot social distancing supported by audible warning devices and thorough cleaning. However, as COVID-19 spread throughout Montana, those measures have not prevented an outbreak at the resort. After a worker on the job site tested positive for COVID-19, Suffolk implemented its own testing regimen beginning July 8. Everyone who tested positive for COVID-19 was asymptomatic and passed a temperature test prior to testing positive. All individuals who tested positive were sent home and asked to self-isolate. The rate of infection among the workers was over 20%.