As of Friday, September 24, 2021, Montana reports 146,035 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 1,038 new cases of coronavirus infection reported since yesterday: 165 new cases in Yellowstone County, 145 new cases in Missoula County, 124 new cases in Flathead County, and more new cases in 42 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 10,817. Currently, 416 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. 1,945 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Fifteen 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.

Falling water levels at Lake Powell, the second-largest man-made reservoir in the US, are so low they could make the dam’s hydroelectric power generation impossible as soon as next year, according to the US Bureau of Reclamation. The troubling projections show that Lake Powell, which is located on the Colorado River from northern Arizona to southern Utah, could drop below the minimum level needed to allow the lake’s Glen Canyon Dam to generate hydroelectricity next year.

Bozeman Health is restricting visitors at all of its facilities as the health care system sees high volumes of COVID-19 patients, and several patients and staff in the medical unit tested positive for the coronavirus after arriving at the hospital. No visitors are allowed within any of the health care system’s facilities unless they are necessary for care delivery or emotional support.

Blaine County in northcentral Montana is another county to lose its health officer. Blaine County Public Health Nurse and Health Officer Jana McPherson-Hauer will resign effective October 15. In an emotional county commission meeting, McPherson-Hauer tendered her resignation, due to the politicization of the COVID-19 pandemic and the damage it has done to her profession through the curtailing of their authority by the Montana Legislature and the daily stress of having the department’s expertise, motivation and evidence-based policies questioned, ignored or rejected.