As of Friday, January 7, 2022, Montana reports 202,863 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 1,161 new cases of coronavirus infection reported since yesterday: 254 new cases in Gallatin County, 242 new cases in Missoula County, 151 new cases in Yellowstone County, 77 new cases in Silver Bow County, 67 new cases in Lewis & Clark County, and more new cases in 38 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 6,111. Currently, 152 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. 2,917 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Nationwide, more than 833,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 58,900,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

More than 1 million Americans were diagnosed with COVID over the long holiday weekend in the latest in a series of staggering milestones brought on by the highly transmissible omicron variant of the coronavirus, which is sweeping across the U.S. and around the world. The U.S. has broken several of its own COVID-19 records in recent days.

Within a matter of minutes earlier this week, people and businesses donated to Montana schools for a tax credit under a recently increased cap on the amount they could claim. Contributions to schools reached the $1 million limit set by the state Legislature in less than six minutes. Most noteworthy is that the million dollars in contributions was to public schools.

Brucellosis has infected a cow in a Madison County livestock herd in the state’s brucellosis Designated Surveillance Area, or DSA, a large area of southwest Montana that spans Gallatin, Park, Madison and Beaverhead counties. Because brucellosis is difficult to detect, the Madison County herd is quarantined and will likely be tested two to four consecutive times, each test at least 30 days apart.