Montana's busiest airport monitoring domestic coronavirus cases

BELGRADE, Mont. — Major airports around the country are taking precautions to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport is also taking precautions by adding more hand sanitizer dispensers.

"We've seen some of the airlines announce, on a domestic basis, some reduction in seats throughout the country, but we haven't seen them specific to Bozeman yet," said airport director Brian Sprenger. "We anticipate there will be some impact, but keep in mind we were also projecting 20% increase, so if we see a decrease it may not be an actual decrease -- it may be a reduction in the increase."

Even though Washington and California are reporting a handful of cases, Sprenger doesn't expect too many to come through the airport.

"Truthfully, about 80% of the people coming to Montana from the West Coast are coming by car," he added.

"We're not advising anyone not to travel to any place in the United States, but it's important that they be aware of it ... if they have an underlying health condition," said Matt Kelley of the Gallatin City-County Health Department. "We're trying to tell people also live their lives. We don't want people to live their lives in fear."