As of Thursday, September 23, 2021, Montana reports 145,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 1,144 new cases of coronavirus infection reported since yesterday: 176 new cases in Gallatin County, 157 new cases in Yellowstone County, 117 new cases in Missoula County, 106 new cases in Flathead County, and more new cases in 42 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 10,842. Currently, 402 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. 1,930 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Sixteen more deaths have been reported since yesterday. Nationwide, more than 680,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 42,500,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

The CDC urges all pregnant women to get the COVID-19 vaccine as hospitals see disturbing numbers of unvaccinated pregnant women seriously ill with the virus. Expectant women run a higher risk of severe illness and pregnancy complications from the coronavirus, including miscarriages and stillbirths. But the vaccination rate is low in pregnant women; only about 23 percent have received at least one dose

More than 2 billion people worldwide are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, but many who live in resource-limited countries haven’t been able to get vaccines, partly because they lack temperature-controlled shipping and storage facilities. Researchers have developed a microneedle patch that delivers a new type of COVID-19 vaccine different from the Moderna and Pfizer messenger RNA vaccine or the protein-based Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The microneedle patch delivers a DNA vaccine into the skin. Importantly, the patch can be stored for more than 30 days at room temperature without losing efficacy, which makes the microneedle patches an important tool for delivering COVID-19 vaccines with global accessibility.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, the Montana Medical Association, a Missoula hospital, medical clinics and individuals with compromised immune systems seek to overturn a law passed earlier this year by Republican legislators that bars employers, including hospitals, from requiring their employees be vaccinated. House Bill 702 was signed by Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte earlier this year. It became the only law in the country to ban employers from requiring their employees to be vaccinated, with a carve-out for long-term care facilities but not hospitals or other medical settings.