As of Saturday, August 29, 2020, Montana reports 7,251 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 187 new cases reported in the last day: 54 in Yellowstone County, 28 in Flathead County, 27 in Rosebud County, 22 in Big Horn County, 18 in Gallatin County, 15 in Cascade County, 4 in Missoula County, 3 in Lake and Ravalli Counties, 2 in each of Hill, McCone, and Sweet Grass Counties, and 1 in each of Dawson, Granite, Jefferson, Lewis & Clark, Musselshell, Richland, and Valley Counties. Statewide, 429 people have been hospitalized, and 128 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. Yellowstone County has had 2,012 cases so far. Gallatin County has had 1,069. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 1,869. The most active cases are in Yellowstone County, with 908 active cases. Gallatin County has 52 active cases. 104 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Nationwide, more than 182,000 Americans have died. There have been 5,950,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

A Kentucky man accused of breaking Canada’s COVID-19 rules faces a $569,000 fine. John Pennington of Walton, Kentucky, broke the law twice. He was initially fined $910 ($1,200 Canadian) on June 25 after violating Alberta’s coronavirus regulations by staying at a Banff hotel on vacation. Pennington was scheduled to leave the next day and was told to stay in his hotel until leaving. But the following afternoon, police spotted his car at a local tourist attraction, an enclosed gondola ride up a mountain, and he was arrested and charged with violating Canada’s Quarantine Act. Canada closed its border to Americans on March 21 to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. The US-Canadian border remains closed to non-essential travel. The US has more than a quarter of the cases of coronavirus and COVID-19 deaths worldwide. The US has 182,000 deaths and counting. Canada has had 9,000.

A University of Montana theatre faculty member has tested positive for COVID-19. Cleaning of the school of Theatre and Dance is underway, and classes should resume soon. Through contact tracing, health officials determined the faculty member was exposed off-campus. The university had everyone on campus identify someone else to teach should they contract the illness and need time to recuperate. Faculty has been making arrangements so that classes can pivot to remote instruction or to an alternative method.

As more schools, colleges, and universities reopen to in-person classes in the US, some college towns are taking action to curb parties and gatherings that can lead to coronavirus outbreaks. Iowa’s governor ordered all bars closed this week in the counties that are home to Iowa University and Iowa State, and Alabama did the same thing for the town were the state’s flagship university is located. Provo, Utah, home of Brigham Young University, passed a mask ordinance. Surging infection numbers in Iowa, Alabama, and North Carolina, to name a few, have been blamed in part on young people ignoring mask directives and social distancing requirements, sometimes closing whole campuses to in-person classes and dormitory living.

The Kalispell City Council will hold the meetings via videoconference until further notice in response to dozens of unmasked community members entering council chambers. The Kalispell City Council reopened its chambers to the public in early June, but on Aug. 3 and Aug. 19, officials were forced to reschedule and reformat city council meetings to videoconferences in order to comply with the statewide mask mandate, which went into effect on July 15. While councilors agreed they would prefer to hold meetings in council chambers, they concluded it would not be possible if the public continues to gather unmasked. videoconferencing has been used in all but one of Montana cities with at least 10,000 people, including Billings, Missoula, Bozeman, Butte, Helena, and Kalispell. Belgrade has been experiencing similar issues with unmasked members of the public in council chambers.

Five people have died as a result of a COVID-19 outbreak at the Whitefish Care and Rehabilitation Center, and fourteen residents and eight staff members at the long-term care center have tested positive. The virus was spread by an asymptomatic person and so the illness and diagnoses were delayed in the facility, according to the director. Other outbreaks in nursing homes have resulted in deaths, too; there have been 17 deaths at the Canyon Creek Memory Care Center in Billings from that facility’s coronavirus outbreak.