As of Sunday, December 27, 2020, Montana reports 79,780 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 284 new cases reported in the last day: 49 in Lewis & Clark County, 42 in Flathead County, 37 in Yellowstone County, 34 in Gallatin County, 31 in Missoula County, 18 in Silver Bow County, 16 in Cascade County, and more new cases in 16 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 6,127. Statewide, 3,451 people have been hospitalized, and 200 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. The most active cases are in Yellowstone, Cascade, Lewis & Clark, Missoula County and Flathead County. 924 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Five more deaths have been reported in the last day. Nationwide, more than 333,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 19,200,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

President Donald Trump backtracked Sunday and signed a $2.3 trillion package that combines Covid-19 relief with government funding. His last-minute decision, coming after he caused days of legislative chaos by lacerating a bill his own aides had negotiated, will restore enhanced unemployment assistance that expired Sunday and avert a shutdown that would have begun Tuesday. The bill, the result of protracted negotiations between the parties and the Trump administration — which Trump largely sat out — includes a $900 billion Covid-19 stimulus package to extend the unemployment benefits: $114 to $357 weekly payments to unemployed gig workers and self-employed people whose businesses have stalled. The funds have been a lifeline for 7.3 million Americans out of work because of the coronavirus. The package also extends the federal moratorium on evictions, which was set to expire Thursday. Without the extension, millions of people faced immediate housing crises.

Food banks are sounding the alarm on child hunger as the Covid crisis drags on. More than 50 million people living in America, including 17 million children, are likely to experience food insecurity by the end of the year, according to Feeding America, the country’s largest anti-hunger organization. That amounts to 1 in 6 Americans and 1 in 4 children — an increase of nearly 50 percent over last year.

Covid pandemic turned 2020 into deadliest year in U.S. history. This is the deadliest year in U.S. history, with deaths expected to top 3 million for the first time — due mainly to the coronavirus pandemic. Final mortality data for this year will not be available for months. But preliminary numbers suggest that the United States is on track to see more than 3.2 million deaths this year, or at least 400,000 more than in 2019.
U.S. deaths increase most years, so some annual rise in fatalities is expected. But the 2020 numbers amount to a jump of about 15 percent, and could go higher once all the deaths from this month are counted.