As of Sunday, September 13, 2020, Montana has surpassed 9,000 COVID-19 cases, with a reported 9,021 cases of coronavirus infection. There were 96 new cases reported in the last day: 34 in Yellowstone County, 12 in Roosevelt County, 9 in Lake County, 7 in Rosebud County, 6 in Cascade County, 5 in Gallatin County, 4 in Glacier County, 3 in Big Horn County, 2 in each of six more Montana Counties: Carbon, Custer, Deer Lodge, Richland, Silver Bow, and Stillwater Counties, and 1 in each Flathead, Hill, Lewis & Clark, and Missoula County. Statewide, 525 people have been hospitalized, and 145 people currently are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. Yellowstone County has had 2,491 cases so far. Gallatin County has had 1,153 total coronavirus cases so far. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 2,056. The most active cases are in Yellowstone County, with 793 active cases. Gallatin County has 67. 135 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Nationwide, more than 194,000 Americans have died. There have been 6,500,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

Although Gallatin County’s coronavirus cases have remained stable over the last week, county health officials caution a spike in the fall is possible and report a fourth death related to the virus.

Montana State University’s return to in-person classes has yet to lead to a significant increase in cases, according to the Gallatin City-County Health Department’s weekly surveillance report. 7% of all the currently active cases in the county are associated with Montana State University. 41 cases have been associated with Montana State University since August 1, with three active cases currently. MSU had six active cases the previous week.

Very young children can catch COVID-19 and spread the virus to adults, even if they never show symptoms. A new report from the CDC details COVID-19 outbreaks at three child care facilities in Utah from April to July. Twelve children became infected from someone else at day care, but most children had mild to no symptoms. Through detailed contact tracing, investigators were able to determine that those children then spread the virus to at least 1 in 4 people they were in close contact with outside of the child care facility. Those contacts usually included mothers and siblings. In one case, an 8-month-old baby appears to have spread COVID-19 acquired at day care to both parents. In one case, a parent had to be hospitalized. Two asymptomatic children who had confirmed COVID-19 diagnoses spread the virus to others. Transmission also occurred from children to their teachers.