As of Monday, February 22, 2021, Montana reports 98,810 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 32 new cases reported in the last day: 35 in Gallatin County, 11 in Missoula County, and more new cases in 11 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 2,170. Statewide, 4,527 people have been hospitalized. Currently, 78 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. The most active cases are in Yellowstone, Flathead, Gallatin, and Lewis & Clark Counties. 1,341 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Nationwide, more than 500,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 28,200,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

Hours after the U.S. crossed the threshold of 500,000 deaths from COVID-19, President Biden commemorated the lives lost over the past year on Monday night. No other country has lost more lives to the yearlong pandemic than the U.S. “Today, we mark a truly grim, heartbreaking milestone,” he said in a brief speech at the White House. “500,071 dead. That’s more Americans who died in one year in this pandemic than in World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War combined.” Remembrance, Mr. Biden said, is an important part of the healing process, both for individuals and for the nation. Shortly before the event, the president ordered the flags at the White House lowered to half staff.

Overall, the number of cases and of deaths per day have been dropping, and over 44 million Americans have received at least one vaccine dose in a two-dose regimen.
Despite the staggering toll taken by the virus, former Food and Drug Administration chief Dr. Scott Gottlieb sees reasons for optimism in the months ahead. On CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, he predicted, “I think we’re going to continue to see infection rates decline into the spring and the summer. Right now, they’re falling quite dramatically.” While he doesn’t think the U.S. will ever obtain “true” herd immunity, because large percentages of Americans have been infected and a growing number of people are being vaccinated, the disease is transferring “at a much slower rate.”

At the Montana Legislature, lawmakers on a nearly party-line vote revived legislation to block medical treatment for transgender youth. The bill passed out of the House Judiciary Committee on Monday. The legislation would prohibit gender transition procedures and the removal of otherwise healthy or non-diseased body parts or tissue to treat gender dysphoria for minors. It would also bar doctors from making a referral for such care and make doctors who do so subject to penalties. HB 113 included those measures, in addition to proposing outlawing puberty blockers or hormones. Dr. Lauren Wilson, the vice president of the Montana chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a pediatrician in Missoula, said to her knowledge the genital procedures banned in the bill have never occurred in Montana. Wilson added the procedures are not recommended for those under the age of 18 by standard medical guidelines. About three-quarters of people who are transgender never have surgery, Wilson said.
Wilson also told the committee that because of the additional legal scrutiny placed on doctors, the bill would make the already difficult job of recruiting pediatric specialists to Montana much more difficult. Laurel Hesse, the legislative program manager for ACLU of Montana, said that the bill singles out transgender minors by banning care that would remain available to non-transgender peers. “(That) raises serious equal protections problems,” Hesse said. “Under this bill, mastectomy and breast augmentation would remain available for non-transgender minors, but would be prohibited for transgender minors, even if medically necessary.”