As of Monday, August 10, 2020, Montana reports 5,017 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 65 new cases reported in the last day: 17 in Flathead County, 10 in Yellowstone County, 9 in Big Horn County, 8 in Gallatin County, 7 in Silver Bow County, 4 in Valley County, 3 in Missoula County, 2 in Carbon and in Glacier Counties, and 1 in each of Fergus, Jefferson, and Lake Counties. Statewide, 273 people have been hospitalized, and 80 people are currently being treated in the hospital for COVID-19. Yellowstone County has had 1,295 cases so far, and Gallatin County has had 947. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 1,528. The most active cases are in Yellowstone County, with 569 active cases, while Gallatin County has 74 active cases. 75 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Nationwide, more than 162,000 Americans have died.

New Zealand on Sunday marked 100 days and counting since it was able to effectively eliminate the spread of coronavirus. The South Pacific nation suppressed the spread of the virus by implementing a strict lockdown in late March that closed the borders to foreign nationals after only 100 people tested positive. In the past three months, the only new cases of COVID-19 in New Zealand were among returning travelers who were quarantined at the border of the country, which is home to 5 million people. The country has now reported just over 1,500 COVID-19 cases and only 22 deaths after the stringent lockdown. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced in early June that they were “confident to have eliminated transmission of the virus in New Zealand for now.” She has been widely praised for her leadership as other countries look to the nation for answers as they battle the virus.

The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Neel Kashkari, says a National Lockdown Could Be The Economy’s Best Hope. The United States has now surpassed five million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 160,000 deaths from the virus as tens of millions of Americans file for unemployment, causing experts to debate how the nation should respond. Kashkari says the answer is a return to mandated lockdowns in every state for up to six weeks in an effort to save both lives and the economy. Kashkari says lockdowns were having a positive effect during the spring. The problem is that “we threw in the towel before the health officials had actually gotten control of the virus.” Giving up too early cost the economy, says Kashkari. What the country needs now, he says, is “a more stringent, uniform lockdown state-by-state” until the virus can be brought under control. “Then we can return to normal economic activity with more confidence.”

A school district in Springfield, Ill., has a dress code for students taking classes online that says they may not wear pajamas. Some parents are upset that the Springfield School District is trying to tell them what their students can and cannot do in their own homes. The school district says the pajama rule is an extension of the dress code for school attendance. Students may not “participate in remote learning from their beds,” either.

A new study published in Science Advances is shedding light on which masks are most effective — and which may actually be hurting the effort to curb COVID-19. Of the 14 masks tested, the two that proved least effective were a bandanna and a neck fleece, also known as a neck gaiter. A senior researcher at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, says the study is an important one for Americans to consider. Bandanas and neck gaiters may actually spread more of the virus than not wearing a face covering at all. The researcher said, “We noticed that speaking through some masks (particularly the neck gaiter) seemed to disperse the largest droplets into a multitude of smaller droplets … making an increase in droplet count relative to no mask.” These small droplets could prove extremely dangerous in terms of transmission. “Considering that smaller particles are airborne longer than large droplets because larger droplets sink faster, the use of bandanas or neck gaiters might be counterproductive, “People really don’t understand that not all face coverings are equal, and that there are some that are going to be more or much less effective.” Please wear cotton or medical grade masks, not bandanas or neck gaiters.