As of Tuesday, August 31, 2021, Montana reports 127,227 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 890 new cases reported in the last day: 193 new cases in Yellowstone County, 112 new cases in Cascade County, 96 new cases in Flathead County, 95 new cases in Gallatin County, 71 new cases in Missoula County, and more new cases in 41 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 5,057. Montana hasn’t seen that high a number since January. Currently, 251 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. 1,800 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Thirteen more deaths have been reported since yesterday. Nationwide, more than 639,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 39,200,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

As COVID-19 cases continue to climb in Gallatin County, the health care system is getting stretched thin. Dr. Kathryn Bertany at Bozeman Health said, “We have had days where all our regular beds in the emergency department were full and we were using hallway spaces.” COVID-19 hospitalizations are increasing and have remained in the double digits in the past couple of weeks. Seven of the 12 ICU beds at Bozeman Deaconess are filled with patients sick with COVID-19. Four are on life support, and all of those are unvaccinated people.

The lumber mill in St. Regis, in the northwest part of Montana, will close this fall, ending 99 jobs by mid-November. Idaho Forest Group, the Coeur d’Alene-based company which has owned the St. Regis mill for four years, says the mill is not cost-competitive with any of its newer mills.

A woman was tossed into the air by a bison at Custer State Park in South Dakota on Saturday. The woman got too close to a cow and her calf. The park hosts guests in lodging, offers entertainment and education, and also hosts events in the park; The woman was walking back to her cabin near the general store from a wedding at the pavilion when she ventured way too close to a herd of bison including new calves and their mothers. The woman did not sustain any major injuries and was not transported for care.