As of Tuesday, February 1, 2022. Montana reports 243,133 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 978 new cases of coronavirus infection reported since Friday: 192 new cases in Yellowstone County, 157 new cases in Missoula County, 137 new cases in Cascade County, 101 new cases in Flathead County, and more new cases in 30 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 17,327. 55 of Montana’s 56 counties report active cases. Currently, 329 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. 3,016 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Sixteen more people’s deaths have been reported since Friday. Nationwide, more than 888,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 75,100,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

Pfizer and BioNTech are requesting emergency use authorization for their two-dose COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 6 months up to 5 years old. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is already authorized for kids 5 and older and would be the first COVID-19 vaccine available for the youngest children.

CDC has issued an urgent alert that pregnant women need the COVID-19 vaccines. More than 160 expectant mothers have died from COVID, the CDC reported, twenty-two pregnant women died of COVID-19 last month.

Montana State University researchers are inviting the public to participate in some celestial communication; that is, to send messages to the moon. While space travel is limited to select astronauts and a handful of billionaires, anyone now has the chance to send a short message to the moon. Messages can be roughly 50 words long and can include an image. People can submit messages online at montana.edu/moon.