As of Wednesday, March 30, 2022, Montana reports 272,543 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 46 new cases of coronavirus infection reported since
yesterday: 10 new cases in Gallatin County, 10 new cases in Missoula County, 5 new cases in Yellowstone County, and more new cases in 14 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 342. Currently, 29 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. 3,246 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Nationwide, more than 977,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 79,900,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

President Joe Biden may invoke the Defense Production Act soon to spur domestic production of critical minerals needed to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles and for long-term electricity storage. Doing so would add critical minerals such as lithium, nickel, graphite, cobalt and manganese to the list of items covered by the 1950 Defense Production Act, a law enacted during the Korean War that allows the president to use emergency authority to make large orders of a certain type of product or to expand productive capacity and supply.

Wildlife researchers are conducting coronavirus testing on bear, moose, deer and wolves on a Native American reservation in the remote northern Minnesota woods about 5 miles from Canada. Like researchers around the world, they are trying to figure out how, how much and where wildlife is spreading the coronavirus.

Two years after COVID-19 forced the Bozeman Public Library to change its operations, the library’s hours have now returned to its pre-pandemic
schedule. The Bozeman Public Library opens at 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and closes at 8 p.m. Monday-Thursday. Hours are 10 to 6 on Fridays, 10 to 5 Saturdays, and 1-5 Sundays.