cancer survivor vulnerable to serious illness, Chany Ockert worried as the coronavirus swept through China and then northern Italy last winter. When, she wondered, would it reach her remote corner of the United States.Now it has, with the force of a hurricane. Ockert lives in Flathead County in northwestern Montana, home to Glacier National Park and one of the worst-hit parts of the state. Montana did well early on, preventing spread of the virus with lockdowns and travel restrictions, but precautions were loosened in June and it now has one of the worst Covid-19 rates in the...…cancer survivor vulnerable to serious illness, Chany Ockert worried as the coronavirus swept through China and then northern Italy last winter. When, she wondered, would it reach her remote corner of the United States.Now it has, with the force of a hurricane. Ockert lives in Flathead County in northwestern Montana, home to Glacier National Park and one of the worst-hit parts of the state. Montana did well early on, preventing spread of the virus with lockdowns and travel restrictions, but precautions were loosened in June and it now has one of the worst Covid-19 rates in the...WW…

This story also ran on .Even as Montana begins a gradual easing of stay-at-home restrictions intended to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the political schism it highlighted is creating reverberations in one community in the northwestern corner of the state.A Flathead County health board member who led a movement to disparage the protective safety orders and downplay the virus is now the subject of two competing petitions — one to expel her from office and another to keep her.When the commissioners in this county of about 104,000 people appointed Dr. Annie Bukacek to the health board in...…This story also ran on .Even as Montana begins a gradual easing of stay-at-home restrictions intended to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the political schism it highlighted is creating reverberations in one community in the northwestern corner of the state.A Flathead County health board member who led a movement to disparage the protective safety orders and downplay the virus is now the subject of two competing petitions — one to expel her from office and another to keep her.When the commissioners in this county of about 104,000 people appointed Dr. Annie Bukacek to the health board in...WW…

As Montana plows forward with its reopening, including throwing open the doors to tourism on June 1, the outlook is starkly different for members of the state’s Native American nations, which have approached the coronavirus with greater caution and stricter controls.For members of the state’s far-flung tribes, who make up nearly 7% of Montana’s population of roughly 1 million, protective attitudes toward elders and cultural heritage have shaped a pandemic response around defending the most vulnerable rather than prioritizing economics. Tribal leaders across the state say reservation...…As Montana plows forward with its reopening, including throwing open the doors to tourism on June 1, the outlook is starkly different for members of the state’s Native American nations, which have approached the coronavirus with greater caution and stricter controls.For members of the state’s far-flung tribes, who make up nearly 7% of Montana’s population of roughly 1 million, protective attitudes toward elders and cultural heritage have shaped a pandemic response around defending the most vulnerable rather than prioritizing economics. Tribal leaders across the state say reservation...WW…