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The state Legislature will be back to normal Tuesday with floor sessions and in-person committee meetings with the House gaveling back in at 10 and the senate at one. This comes after fewer than a dozen legislators who were close contacts of a lobbyist COVID-19 case announced they are quarantining following public health protocols. No…
Montana reported 57 COVID-19 cases and the COVID-19 death of one person according to a Sunday update to the state case mapping and information website. Active cases in Montana are at 1,014. COVID-19 has killed 1,546 Montanans. Active COVID-19 hospitalizations were at 50 as of the update. In total 4,909 people in Montana are reported…
A bill to spend $2 billion in federal COVID-19 relief money inched forward in the Senate on Thursday passing a preliminary vote in the same form as it emerged from a budget panel last week. House Bill 632 appropriating money coming to the state from the federal American Rescue Plan Act passed second reading 32…
Thursday evening COVID-19 Panel Chair and Deputized public health official Senator Jason Ellsworth was notified that a member of the government affairs committee has tested positive for COVID-19 and because the Legislature’s contact tracer requires time to do her work the decision was made to postpone today’s legislative floor sessions out of an abundance of…
With around 23% of the population fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Wednesday and vaccination being an essential being an essential component for full reopening of the economy. Wallet Hub today released its report on the safest states during the pandemic. Montana ranks 37th across five key metrics. The business processing outsourcing company TTEC is…
Governor Greg Gianforte has issued an executive order. It prohibits so-called vaccine passports in Montana and also prohibits businesses from requiring customers to show they’ve been vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 to receive services or enter a business. Since summer 2019 even during the pandemic the community of Lewistown has contributed a half million dollars…
Montana health officials have temporarily halted administering the single dose Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine until an investigation into whether the vaccine is linked to an exceptionally rare type of blood clotting is complete. Montana has utilized far more Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in immunizing residents than the Johnson and Johnson vaccines. A new poll…
Federal health agencies called for an immediate pause of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine this morning after six people in the United States developed a rare disorder involving blood clots within about two weeks of getting the vaccine. The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will stop using…
A proposal in the Montana Legislature to reduce some federal stimulus grants to local governments with stricter COVID-19 regulations than the state passed the House last week on a vote of 83 to 40. An amendment to remove the measure from House Bill 632 reducing funds to some local governments failed. It’s expected there will…
Montana reported another 42 COVID-19 cases, but no new COVID-19 deaths in an update Sunday to the state case mapping and information website. Active cases are at 1,100 statewide. Hospitals in the state are reporting 48 active COVID-19 hospitalizations. COVID-19 has caused the deaths of 1,523 Montanans. Park City-County Health officer Dr. Laurel Desnick sees…