As of Monday, February 7, 2022. Montana reports 251,920 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 1,833 new cases of coronavirus infection reported since yesterday: 263 new cases in Yellowstone County, 227 new cases in Missoula County, 226 new cases in Lewis & Clark County, 131 new cases in Cascade County, 112 new cases in Flathead County, 104 new cases in Gallatin County, and more new cases in 44 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 10,256. All of Montana’s 56 counties report active cases. Currently, 310 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. 3,037 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Six more people’s deaths have been reported since Friday. Nationwide, more than 901,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 76,400,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

Two Montanans competed in the inaugural women’s ski big air contest at the Olympics in Beijing. Two-time Olympian Darian Stevens from Missoula qualified in eighth place as the lone American to make the final. Whitefish’s Maggie Voisin placed 15th. The women’s ski big air event was making its debut for skiers after first appearing as a snowboard event in the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

In December, the opening of the new ultra-luxury Montage Big Sky resort hotel added yet another exclusive hotel to southwest Montana. The $416 million, 520,000-square-foot lodge is the latest ultra-exclusive hotel on the mountain.

A snowmobiler was killed in an avalanche Sunday west of West Yellowstone in the Lionhead area on Ski Hill when the avalanche swept the rider downhill into trees. Attempts to resuscitate the snowmobiler were unsuccessful.

Broadwater County Attorney and Montana Army National Guard member Cory Swanson has been deployed in military service, so Lewis and Clark and Gallatin counties have stepped in to assist in his absence.