CASPER, Wyo. — The Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) reported 135 new laboratory confirmed cases of COVID-19 during their 3 pm Wednesday, Feb. 2 update.
That brought the total to 44,604 confirmed COVID cases in Wyoming since the pandemic began. Wyoming’s average number of new cases per day over the last seven days has fallen to 115.3. 7,684 probable cases have been reported.
COVID hospitalizations in Wyoming dropped to 47 on Wednesday according to the WDH. That is the first time hospitalizations have dropped under 50 since Oct. 7, 2020. They peaked on Nov. 30, 2020, when 247 COVID-19 patients were in hospitals across the state.
No new COVID related deaths were reported Wednesday. The WDH reported 28 additional COVID related deaths among Wyoming residents on Tuesday, bring the total since the pandemic began to 624.
Four of the deaths reported Tuesday were Natrona County residents. Natrona has seen 121 COVID related deaths, the most of any county in the state.
Seven new confirmed COVID cases were reported in Natrona on Wenesday, bringing the total case count 5,715. Probable cases rose by five to a total of 1,840.
Statewide, 43,101 people have recovered from a confirmed case and 7,398 have recovered from a probable case. 5,488 total recoveries from a lab confirmed case and 1,778 probable case recoveries have been reported in Natrona County.
“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.
The Atlantic’s COVID Tracking Project announced this week that it will no longer track the effective reproduction rate in favor of other metrics.
County-specific COVID-19 information is available from the Wyoming Department of Health. Lab confirmed cases in each county are as follows (probable cases in parentheses):
- Albany: 3,426 (365)
- Big Horn: 819 (175)
- Campbell: 4,160 (472)
- Carbon: 1,161 (106)
- Converse: 526 (384)
- Crook: 381 (34)
- Fremont: 3,863 (650)
- Goshen: 1,031 (90)
- Hot Springs: 267 (89)
- Johnson: 406 (206)
- Laramie: 6,819 (1,191)
- Lincoln: 994 (157)
- Natrona: 5,715 (1,840)
- Niobrara: 63 (83)
- Park: 2,400 (149)
- Platte: 366 (194)
- Sheridan: 2,331 (574)
- Sublette: 533 (126)
- Sweetwater: 3,379 (140)
- Teton: 3,088 (73)
- Uinta: 1,666 (315)
- Washakie: 689 (180)
- Weston: 521 (91)
