As Montana continues to battle a surge in COVID-19 cases, Governor Steve Bullock held a press conference with state health leaders on Wednesday to address the rise as well as unemployment insurance funds.
The state will direct 200 million in CARES Act dollars to the unemployment insurance trust fund.
Bullock said the move is to prevent Montana businesses from experiencing an 85 percent spike in their tax rate.
Bullock also announced the state will begin publicly displaying COVID hospital capacity across the state on Thursday.
The report will show bed and ICU capacity as well as the number of ventilators.
Flathead and Yellowstone counties have reported the lion's share of new cases in the past month.
Bullock again affirmed his position on leaving stricter COVID mandates in the hands of local governments said it didn't make sense for the governor to implement restrictions for only a couple counties at a time.
"It’s our actions as Montanans that have brought our total case count to over 16,000 and to nearly 200 deaths. It’s our actions as Montanans that have stressed our hospital resources and it’s our actions as Montanans that can flatten the curve," said Governor Steve Bullock
At the press event, Bullock urged Congress and the President to find common ground and pass another COVID stimulus package to help financially-impacted Americans.
