CASPER, Wyo. — The Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) reported 314 new lab confirmed cases of COVID-19 during their 3 pm Thursday, Dec. 10 update.
There have now been 33,203 total confirmed coronavirus cases in Wyoming since the start of the pandemic. 24 additional probable cases were also reported Thursday, bringing the total to 5,020.
No additional COVID related deaths were reported Thursday but the WDH reported 19 additional COVID related deaths among Wyoming residents on Wednesday. That brought the total since the start of the pandemic to 299.
COVID hospitalizations in the state started to tick up again on Wednesday after generally trending downward from the peak of 247 COVID patients in hospitals across the state on Nov. 30.
Hospitalizations climbed to 206 on Wednesday, up from 203 on Tuesday. The WDH had not yet provided hopsitalization data for Thursday as of 3:05 pm.
The WDH reported 32 new lab confirmed cases in Natrona County on Thursday. The total stands at 4,628 since the start of the pandemic. An additional four probable cases in the county were also reported, bringing the total to 1,138.
1,079 new recoveries from lab confirmed cases were reported statewide on Thursday, bringing the total to 29,579. An additional 200 probable case recoveries were also reported for a total of 4,312.
In Natrona County, 4,104 people with a lab confirmed case and 890 people with a probable case have recovered.
“A lab confirmed or probable case is defined as recovered when there is resolution of fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and there is improvement in respiratory symptoms (e.g. cough, shortness of breath) for 24 hours AND at least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared,” the WDH says. “Cases with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 who have not had any symptoms are considered recovered when at least 10 days have passed since the date of their first positive test and have had no subsequent illness provided they remain asymptomatic.”
WDH Public Information Officer Kim Deti explained that the department marks people as recovered once their isolation order date has expired. People who test positive are asked to remain in isolation until 10 days since their first symptoms or 10 days after their test was taken, or longer if they are still showing symptoms.
If people need to be isolated longer than their initial isolation period, they can contact the WDH who can extend their isolation order. Deti said that in some cases, contact tracing informs whether a case is considered recovered while in others, the department counts someone as covered after their isolation period concludes.
As of Thursday morning, Wyoming’s effective reproduction rate of the virus stood at 0.89, according to Rt.live. The number reflects the average number of new cases each case is expected to create. Anytime the effective reproduction rate is above 1.0, COVID-19 is expected to spread quickly.
Wyoming had the lowest effective reproduction rates of the virus of any state in the country.
County-specific COVID-19 information is available from the Wyoming Department of Health. Total lab confirmed cases in each county (with probable cases in parentheses) are as follows:
- Albany: 3,024 (256)
- Big Horn: 530 (58)
- Campbell: 3,090 (288)
- Carbon: 754 (59)
- Converse: 437 (264)
- Crook: 319 (24)
- Fremont: 3,215 (440)
- Goshen: 801 (75)
- Hot Springs: 161 (16)
- Johnson: 278 (121)
- Laramie: 5,353 (848)
- Lincoln: 650 (86)
- Natrona: 4,628 (1,138)
- Niobrara: 57 (77)
- Park: 1,452 (122)
- Platte: 243 (130)
- Sheridan: 1,910 (357)
- Sublette: 428 (106)
- Sweetwater: 2,189 (92)
- Teton: 1,799 (53)
- Uinta: 1,053 (218)
- Washakie: 478 (118)
- Weston: 354 (74)
