As of Monday, September 13, 2021, Montana reports 134, 935 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 1,187 new cases of coronavirus infection reported since yesterday: 216 new cases in Missoula County, 146 new cases in Yellowstone County, 92 new cases in Lewis & Clark County, 89 new cases in Ravalli County, 72 new cases in Lincoln County, 69 new cases in Flathead County, and more new cases in 41 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 7,589. That’s the highest active-case count since November 2020. Currently, 351 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. 1,842 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Eight more deaths have been reported in the last day. Nationwide, more than 660,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 41,000,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

The surge of COVID cases in mostly unvaccinated people is compromising care for other Americans. An Alabama man who suffered a heart attack died because no hospital beds were available. Ray DeMonia, an antiques dealer, died after the emergency staff at his local hospital tried to find him an available bed in an ICU.

A lawsuit filed by Montana youth groups calls new Republican election laws ‘a cocktail of voter suppression measures that land heavily on the young.’ The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Yellowstone County District Court, targets three bills passed by Republican lawmakers and signed into law by Gov. Greg Gianforte earlier this year.

The Montana National Guard is ending its deployment on wildland fires as the surge in COVID cases demands the return of help by the Guard to hospitals. Montana hospitals, the larger medical community, and city officials are calling for renewed Guard assistance at health care facilities as the delta variant of the coronavirus spawns another wave of COVID-19 cases and deaths.