As of Tuesday, October 19, 2021, Montana reports 167,268 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 1,333 new cases of coronavirus infection reported since yesterday: 199 new cases in Gallatin County, 180 new cases in Yellowstone County, 154 new cases in Lewis & Clark County, 153 new cases in Cascade County, 113 new cases in Missoula County, and more new cases in 48 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 11,041. Every one of Montana’s 56 counties reports active cases. Currently, 454 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. 2,206 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Twenty-three more people have died of COVID-19 in Montana since yesterday. Nationwide, more than 726,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 45,000,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

In Helena, St. Peter’s hospital says public officials including Montana’s Republican Attorney General Austin Knudsen harassed and threatened doctors over the treatment of a COVID-19 patient. The patient had requested to be treated with ivermectin, a drug not approved for use against the disease.

At least three Montana school districts have gone exclusively to virtual learning or have closed due to COVID outbreaks among students and staff. The Darby school district switched to remote learning due to staff shortages. Glasgow schools cancelled classes Monday through Wednesday, and Livingston middle school and high school classes went virtual on Oct. 13 to give county health officials time to contact trace COVID-19 cases.

Three women are running for Bozeman’s second full-time municipal judge position. The Bozeman municipal court handles misdemeanor charges, like traffic infractions and some DUIs. The court now has one full-time judge, Judge Karl P. Seel, and one three-quarter time judge who is running for the full-time position, Colleen Herrington. The three candidates are Magdalena Bowen, who now serves as the standing master in Gallatin County district court, adjudicating mostly confidential family law cases. Colleen Herrington is the current part-time municipal judge in Bozeman’s municipal court. And Sheryl Wambsgans co-founded a private law firm and fills in for Judges Seel and Herrington when they’re unable to try a case in the municipal courtroom.