CASPER, Wyo. — COVID-19 is spreading through Wyoming’s population faster than it is in any other state in the country, based on the “effective reproduction rate” of the virus.
The Cowboy State was second only to New Jersey in terms of the rate at which the virus was spreading as of last Wednesday but Wyoming has since surpassed New Jersey, according to rt.live who track how fast COVID-19 is spreading in each state.
Wyoming had an effective reproduction rate of 1.29 on Tuesday, up from 1.26 as of last Wednesday morning.
“Rt represents the effective reproduction rate of the virus calculated for each locale,” rt.live explains. “It lets us estimate how many secondary infections are likely to occur from a single infection in a specific area. Values over 1.0 mean we should expect more cases in that area, values under 1.0 mean we should expect fewer.”
New Jersey’s Rt rate stood at 1.41 last Wednesday but has since dropped to 1.18. All but three states have an effective reproduction rate of the virus above 1.0.
Wyoming has seen 2,166 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in the past week, according to Johns Hopkins University. 30.52% of the 7,098 COVID tests completed during that time span have come back positive.
Wyoming has added 6,012 confirmed and probable cases in the past month, according to Johns Hopkins, with 27 new COVID-19 related deaths in that time span. The positivity rate for the past month is at 19.97% with 30,109 tests completed.
The number of total confirmed and probable cases through Monday stands at 11,477, according to Johns Hopkins, which matches the total reported by the Wyoming Department of Health.
Rt.live uses data from The COVID Tracking Project, an initiative of The Atlantic Monthly Group to calculate the effective reproduction rate for each state. The COVID Tracking Project’s data for Wyoming also matches data provided by the Wyoming Department of Health.
Wyoming’s surge in COVID-19 since around mid-September has not relented. The WDH reported a record 387 new lab confirmed cases on Monday along with nine additional COVID-19 related deaths. Wyoming’s total COVID-19 related deaths since the start of the pandemic stands at 77.
The number of patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 in Wyoming hospitals crossed the 100 mark for the first time on Sunday. There were a record 105 COVID-19 patients in Wyoming hospitals on Tuesday, according to the WDH.
The Wyoming Medical Center had a record 31 COVID-19 patients on Monday morning. While the WMC is seeing higher numbers of COVID patients than at any time in the pandemic and expect that number to climb, WMC interim CEO Dr. James Bleicher said on Monday that the hospital has been securing traveling nurses and are working to ensure they could accommodate an additional 30-40 patients.
State and local health officials have continued to ask people to follow health recommendations such as staying home when sick, practicing good hygeine and social distancing. People are also encouraged to wear face coverings when in public spaces and when they are unable to maintain six feet of social distance with others.
State Health Officer Dr. Alexia Harrist said in a release from the WDH on Saturday that schools are an example of how face coverings can be effective at limiting the spread of the virus.
“We know masks can work and help slow the spread of this virus,” she said. “We are seeing that happen within classrooms, for example.”
Bleicher said that while the WMC has seen positive cases among hospital staff, the positivity rate is lower than the positivity rate in the community. He said the WMC thinks this is due to their safety protocols which include the wearing of face masks.
In Wyoming, only Teton County currently mandates the use of cloth face coverings when people are in public spaces such as grocery stores. While mandates are not in effect in Natrona County and Mayor Steve Freel said last week that the City of Casper has no interest in mandating the use of face coverings, Freel said that people should respect the rights of individual businesses to require customers to wear face coverings.
Meanwhile in Cheyenne, Mayor Marian Orr has recently expressed support for a mask mandate in Laramie County.
The debate over masks is not unique to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919, Americans responded to mask regulations as they have in 2020, “with behaviours ranging from eager compliance, to indifferent neglect, to open defiance,” according to Virginia Tech History Professor E Thomas Ewing.
Further details about the history of masks as a means to slow the spread of pandemic diseases is available in this article: “Will Wyoming ‘mask up’ under COVID fatigue?”
