As of Friday, August 27, 2021, Montana reports 125,616 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 706 new cases reported in the last day: 145 new cases in Yellowstone County, 140 new cases in Cascade County, 85 new cases in Flathead County, 59 new cases in Missoula County, and more new cases in 40 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 4,628. All of Montana’s 56 counties report active coronavirus cases, and all new reported cases are the Delta variant of the coronavirus. Currently, 228 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. 1,783 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Two more deaths have been reported since yesterday. Nationwide, more than 635,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 38,600,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

Montana State University is requiring everyone to wear masks. Montana State University President Waded Cruzado announced the mask policy in a letter Thursday. Previous to the mask requirement, Cruzado and MSU had only “encouraged” people to wear masks. Now, masks are required through at least October 1.

Patients have swamped the emergency room at Bozeman Health Deaconess Hospital. This past Monday, every one of the 19 ER beds were full, many with patients who tested positive for COVID-19. Bozeman Deaconess Hospital also reports that seven of their 12 ICU beds are occupied with critically ill COVID patients, all unvaccinated.

U.S. Minerals, which operates minerals processing plants, has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to exposing employees to the poison arsenic at its Anaconda facility, a violation of the Clean Air Act. The company exposed employees at its plant to arsenic at more than 4.75 times permissible limits from 2015 to 2019.