As of Thursday, February 3, 2022. Montana reports 245,606 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 1,058 new cases of coronavirus infection reported since yesterday: 197 new cases in Missoula County, 142 new cases in Lewis & Clark County, 109 new cases in Flathead County, 91 new cases in Yellowstone County, 90 new cases in Gallatin County, 89 new cases in Cascade County, and more new cases in 44 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 14,187. All of Montana’s 56 counties report active cases. Currently, 338 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. 3,029 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Three more people’s deaths have been reported since yesterday. Nationwide, more than 893,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 75,600,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

Omicron coronavirus cases and illness continue to surge in Montana. Just one month into 2023, Montana has added more than 44,700 cases of COVID-19. That means the new cases in January alone make up about 18% of all the COVID-19 cases ever reported in Montana since the pandemic started in March 2020.

A new plan proposed for the Custer Gallatin National Forest, a 3 million acre landscape stretching from the Bozeman area, 400 miles east to portions of northwestern South Dakota, includes eight recommended Wilderness Areas totaling 139,400 acres. The Custer Gallatin National Forest land management plan completes a process begun in 2016 and replaces the previous strategy adopted in 1987.

Montana’s recreational marijuana market sold $12.8 million in product its first month, putting the Treasure State on pace to meet projections of $130 million in legalized marijuana sales in 2023. Add in January’s $9.7 million in medical marijuana sales across the state and Montana raked in $2.9 million in tax revenue from cannabis in 31 days.