As of Tuesday, October 5, 2021, Montana reports 154,739 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 1,276 new cases of coronavirus infection reported since yesterday: 223 new cases in Yellowstone County, 192 new cases in Gallatin County, 144 new cases in Missoula County, 134 new cases in Cascade County, and more new cases in 46 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 12,050. Every one of Montana’s 56 counties reports active cases. Currently, 414 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. 2,048 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Twenty-six more people’s deaths have been reported in the last day. Nationwide, more than 701,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 43,700,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

The alpine nation of Austria and the Caribbean island of Barbados are now deemed “very high” risk travel destinations by the CDC. The two locations join four other new additions to the Level 4 category on the CDC’s regularly updated list of travel advisories because of spikes in coronavirus cases.

Rural Americans are dying of COVID at more than twice the rate of their urban counterparts — a divide that health experts say is likely to widen as access to medical care shrinks for a population that tends to be older, sicker, heavier, poorer and less vaccinated. While the initial surge of COVID-19 deaths skipped over much of rural America, where roughly 15% of Americans live, nonmetropolitan mortality rates quickly started to outpace those of metropolitan areas as the virus spread nationwide before vaccinations became available, according to the Rural Policy Research Institute.

A wildfire northwest of Lewistown has burned at least 1,200 acres and forced officials to close portions of two roads in the area. Crews responded to the South Moccasin fire early Monday morning. The Cottonwood fire near Gardiner has been 100% contained, and the Shedhorn fire south of Big Sky is about 50% contained as of Monday morning.

Officials have postponed the date when a popular trail south of Bozeman is scheduled to close to the public for four weeks. Access to Sourdough Canyon Trail and its trailhead are set to be blocked for a four-week period starting on Oct. 11.