As of Monday, December 20, 2021, Montana reports 194,929 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 159 new cases of coronavirus infection reported since Friday: 20 new cases in Gallatin County, 20 new cases in Yellowstone County, 19 new cases in Flathead County, 16 new cases in Missoula County, and more new cases in 22 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 1,723. Currently, 126 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. 2,878 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Nationwide, more than 805,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 50,800,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

As schools brace for the rapid rise in omicron cases amid the delta variant’s continued onslaught and the onset of flu season, some schools are closing their doors once again and moving back to online learning ahead of the holiday break. A new strategy, announced Friday, for schools will implement a “test to stay” approach where instead of mandatory quarantines for unvaccinated students identified as close contacts of a COVID-positive peer, students could remain in school if they test negative for the virus at least twice during the week after an exposure.

48 passengers and staff tested positive for COVID-19 aboard a cruise ship. Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas returned to Miami Saturday after people fell ill with COVID-19.

A switch-over to a new voter management system in Montana could be delayed if existing issues haven’t been fixed by next week, Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen told lawmakers Thursday. Montana’s clerks and recorders, the county election officials, warned Jacobsen that her office was rushing the new system’s rollout.