Six hundred fifty thousand rapid COVID-19 tests will arrive in Montana later this month. Until then, the state health department says a national shortage on the tests has prevented orders from getting filled.

Great Falls Public Schools was the largest school system in Montana this week to announce the plan to close its doors when it didn’t have enough staff to cover classes. MTPR's Edward O'Brien spoke with a parent and a teacher from Great Falls about the challenges of remote learning.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to shortages of everything from toilet paper to cars. Now the American Red Cross and Montana hospitals say they are experiencing a major shortage of blood donations.

The Smith Valley School in Kalispell is shifting to remote learning. The school doesn’t have enough teachers because many are out sick with COVID-19. One of the state’s largest districts, Great Falls Public Schools, also shifted to remote learning due to staffing shortages this week.

Nick Ehli reported for Kaiser Health News that Billings Clinic has hired two dozen nurses from other countries to fill the staffing void. MTPR's Freddy Monares spoke with Ehli about his reporting.

The district's more than 10,100 students will move to remote learning beginning Tuesday

On Monday, the tribe said it would limit gatherings, restrict capacity inside businesses and bring back a mask mandate as well as a nightly curfew. But officials walked that back Tuesday, saying in a post on Facebook that those restrictions won’t be put in place and that masking is not mandated, but strongly recommended.

There are more patients and, in some places, not enough health care workers to go around. Research shows the crowding will impact care and increase mortality for all patients.

On Friday, Blackfeet officials reported there were 104 active COVID-19 cases, and nearly 70% of those people were fully vaccinated.

Billings Clinic is just one of the scores of hospitals across the U.S. looking abroad to ease a shortage of nurses worsened by the pandemic. The national demand is so great that it’s created a backlog of health care professionals awaiting clearance to work in the U.S.