As of Wednesday, December 15, 2021, Montana reports 194,397 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 292 new cases of coronavirus infection reported since yesterday: 44 new cases in Gallatin County, 36 new cases in Yellowstone County, 31 new cases in Cascade County, 31 new cases in Flathead County, and more new cases in 34 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 2,244. Currently, 152 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. 2,869 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Sixteen more people’s death have been reported since Friday. Nationwide, more than 800,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 50,200,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

Health officials in the United Kingdom warned that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is the ‘most significant threat’ in the U.K. since the start of the pandemic; Just over two weeks after the first cases were detected in the U.K., omicron is now the dominant variant in London.

In the US, Cornell University reported 903 cases of Covid-19 among students between December 7-13, and a “very high percentage” of those are Omicron variant cases in fully vaccinated individuals. As of result, Cornell University has shut down its Ithaca, New York, campus, where it has about 25,600 students.

The Kroger grocery store chain, the country’s largest traditional grocery store company, will end special paid Covid-19 leave for unvaccinated employees and will charge some of them $50 a month if they remain unvaccinated. The changes in policy for the Cincinnati-based company, which has stores in 35 states, apply immediately.

Yellowstone National Park opens for its winter season Wednesday, meaning snowcoaches are about to start wintertime tours of the park for visitors. The park will open most of its interior roads to snowcoaches only.