As of Friday, September 17, 2021, Montana reports 139,712 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 1,209 new cases of coronavirus infection reported since yesterday: 179 new cases in Yellowstone County, 146 new cases in Flathead County, 130 new cases in Cascade County, 113 new cases in Missoula County, 107 new cases in Gallatin County, and more new cases in 37 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 9,545. There are active coronavirus cases in 55 of 56 Montana counties. Currently, 361 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. 1,877 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Twelve more deaths have been reported since yesterday. Nationwide, more than 673,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. That’s 1 in every 500 US residents who have died of coronavirus infection. There have been 42,000,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

Health officials in Missoula and Bozeman are begging Montana residents to wear masks indoors and get vaccinated as hospitals face increasing strain and the state remains without any statewide health mandates. Officials in Bozeman and Missoula lamented their inability to implement public health restrictions to limit the spread of the virus after the Republican-led state Legislature passed several laws earlier this year curtailing the power of local health officers to implement rules such as mask requirements and limiting gathering sizes.

COVID numbers are spiking, and hospitals across Montana are at or over capacity. In Missoula, officials requested 24 National Guard soldiers to assist the county in addressing its COVID-19 surge. St. Peter’s Hospital in Helena, Billings Clinic, and St. James Hospital in Butte have requested National Guard help with overwhelming numbers of COVID patients, almost all unvaccinated. Bozeman Deaconess Hospital is preparing a new ward to deal with an influx of COVID-19 patients in a former newborn nursery. The hospital is already using hallways and conference rooms for patient care.

Montana State University expanded its mask requirement to include indoor spaces like hallways, the SUB, the library, and residence halls as COVID-19 cases spike in Gallatin County and Bozeman Deaconess hospital’s ICU is at capacity.

A Yellowstone National Park concessions worker sustained second- and third-degree burns early Thursday at Old Faithful. The 19-year-old woman from Rhode Island had burns on 5% of her body and was transported to West Yellowstone and then to the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center burn center.