As of Thursday, October 8, 2020, Montana reports 16,677 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 615 new cases reported in the last day: 102 in Missoula County (49 reported yesterday), 98 in Flathead County, 88 in Yellowstone County, 53 in Gallatin County, 36 in Roosevelt County, 21 in Silver Bow County, 18 in Glacier County, 15 in Ravalli County, 14 in Cascade County, 13 in each of Lake, Lincoln, and Pondera Counties, 12 in Beaverhead and in Valley Counties, 10 in Toole County, 8 in each of Blaine, Carbon, and Dawson Counties, and new cases in 19 more Montana counties. Statewide, 851 people have been hospitalized, and 263 people are currently being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. There are 5,824 active coronavirus cases in Montana. The most active cases are in Yellowstone, Flathead, Missoula and Cascade Counties. 197 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Nationwide, more than 212,000 Americans have died. There have been 7,580,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will introduce legislation Friday that would create a “Commission on Presidential Capacity,” which would be involved in presidential transfer of power procedures under the 25th Amendment. The 25th Amendment provides for procedures for transferring power to the vice president in case of the president’s death, incapacitation, removal or resignation. The amendment was ratified and approved in the wake of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. One of its sections provides the vice president and majority of either the Cabinet “or such other body as Congress may by law provide” with a mechanism to transfer power from the president. The president may not be thinking clearly because of the drugs he has taken while being treated for COVID-19.

As Montana hit yet another coronavirus record on Wednesday, Gov. Steve Bullock declined to impose new statewide restrictions and instead deferred to local and tribal governments to implement their own rules to limit the virus’ spread. The state reported 733 new cases on Wednesday — a dramatic increase over the previous record of 504, which was set Tuesday. Wednesday hit the second-highest number of cases at 615. About a third of the COVID-19 cases that Montana has had since the pandemic began are now active. The recent surge in cases has strained some hospitals. Several have been at or near capacity and a few have had to divert patients to other facilities. if cases continue to increase, hospitals may not be able to care for non-COVID-19 patients. “With increased case counts, Montana is expecting increased hospitalizations over the next two weeks. Unfortunately, with increased cases and increased hospitalizations, increases in deaths to occur also are expected.” Beginning Thursday, the state will release daily updates on hospital capacity, including the number of available hospital beds, ICU beds and ventilators.

Montana ranks fourth highest in the nation for new coronavirus cases per capita. In the past week, North Dakota reported more new cases per capita than any other state. Hospitalizations for the virus have risen abruptly, forcing health care officials in some towns to send people to faraway hospitals, even across state lines to Montana and South Dakota. The rise in cases and deaths — September was by far the deadliest month for North Dakota since the start of the pandemic — reflects a new phase of the virus in the United States. From Wisconsin to Montana, states in the Midwest and Mountain West, many of which had avoided large outbreaks in earlier months when coastal cities were hard hit, are seeing much more sickness. And in rural portions of the states now reeling, medical resources are quickly stretched thin for residents who can live hours from large hospitals.

The number of new coronavirus cases in Montana reached an all-time high on Wednesday with 733 cases, after Tuesday’s all-time high of 504. Much of the recent statewide increase stems from a handful of counties, including Gallatin County, which, on Wednesday, added 48 new cases, a figure that has been exceeded only three times since the pandemic began — all in the past week. Gallatin County has seen its seven-day rolling average of cases climb from about six or seven new cases per day in early September to 40 new cases per day on Tuesday. The share of tests coming back positive has also climbed above 5%, which could indicate the county is no longer doing enough testing.

Health officials in Montana’s most populated county, Yellowstone County, established coronavirus case count trigger points on Oct. 5 that if surpassed would cap group gatherings and limit the number of people in bars, restaurants, casinos and places of worship. It’s part of an effort to slow the virus’ spread. On Monday, Yellowstone County Health Officer John Felton said he would enact new rules on Nov. 2, if the infection rate continues to climb. Felton said, “On average, someone lost their mother, their father, their sister, their brother, their grandmother or their grandfather every 32 hours in September, every 32 hours for an entire month.” Flathead County also indicated it is considering new restrictions. Gallatin City-County Health Officer Matt Kelley has said he does not plan to recommend that the Gallatin City-County Board of Health implement new rules locally.