CASPER, Wyo. — The Wyoming Department of Health reports that a record 68 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized across the state on Monday, Oct. 19.
The WDH also reported a record 251 new laboratory confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Monday.
Monday marks the third time in the past four days that the WDH has reported a new record high number of hospitalized COVID patients in Wyoming hospitals.
The WDH reported a record 56 COVID patients on Friday, which was matched again on Saturday and climbed to 62 on Sunday, the first time the WDH reported more than 60 COVID patients across the state.
Wyoming saw over 50 patients in hospitals for the first time during the pandemic on Oct. 8 the WDH has reported less than 50 patients on only two days since then.
Monday’s 68 patients is more than triple the number of COVID patients the WDH reported in Wyoming hospitals during most of the pandemic. Between April 7 and Sept. 29, hospitalizations only climbed above 20 on 12 days.
Officials with the Wyoming Medical Center announced last week that the WMC had been forced to stop accepting most patients from outside of Natrona County due to a surge in COVID hospitalizations. However, the WMC is still accepting trauma, heart attack and stroke patients.
The Associated Press reported on Saturday that states nearby to Wyoming such as South Dakota, North Dakota and Montana are also experiencing surges in COVID cases and that “as cases surge, hospitals in rural communities are having trouble finding beds.”
WyoFile reported on Oct. 8 that some hospitals in Utah, Idaho and Montana were “at or nearing capacity” as they dealt with a surge in the number of COVID patients, leading to concerns about the ability of out of state hospitals to continue accepting transfer patients from Wyoming.
Natrona County Health Officer Dr. Mark Dowell said during a press conference last Wednesday that the WMC’s priorty would be to take care of Natrona County patients. He asked for the community to double down on efforts to help curb the spread of the virus.
“Wyoming is a big community,” he said. “We need to band together. We’re not panicking. We’re saying, this is what we’re seeing. Now it’s time to jump into action to help each other and take it seriously, listen to us, jump in and help us so that we can take care of the people in this county, because they’re our priority.”
“We’re a referral center, but number one is taking care of Natrona County. We have got to do that. We’re going to stay Wyoming strong. But you guys have to step up to the plate now. Get on your masks and do what’s right for everybody.”
The WDH had not updated intensive care unit bed occupancy data since Sunday when 43 of a total 122 ICU beds were occupied by COVID or other types of patients.
21 of a total 181 ventilators, which are sometimes used to attend to COVID patients, were in use on Sunday. The WDH reported zero ventilators were reportedly in use on Aug. 25.
Wyoming hospitals had completed 40,247 COVID tests as of Oct. 15, according to the WDH. The rate at which those tests have come back positive has climbed to 4.05%. The positive test rate has generally climbed since the end of June when the positive rate hovered between 1.7% and 1.9%.
The Wyoming Department of Health also provide data about the number of COVID patients in specific hospitals in the state, but caution that the data is self-reported by hospitals and that “non-general acute hospitals (e.g., rehabilitation hospitals) may report COVID-19 hospitalizations but these data do not always reflect statewide capacity issues.”
Further data from the WDH is available below:
