CASPER, Wyo. — The Wyoming Department of Health reported an additional 583 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state during its 3 p.m. Thursday, September 16 update.
The new cases reported brought the total number of confirmed cases in Wyoming to 68,174 since the pandemic began.
There are 3,081 active confirmed COVID-19 cases in Wyoming, 188 more than there were on Wednesday. The state has been adding an average of 352.6 new confirmed cases per day over the past 14 days.
In Wyoming, 163 new probable cases were added Thursday, bringing the total to 15,469.
Natrona County added 52 new confirmed cases on Thursday, bringing the total to 7,533 since the pandemic began. Natrona saw 75 new probable cases reported, bringing the total to 3,876.
No additional COVID-19-related deaths were reported Thursday. 918 Wyoming residents have reportedly died after contracting COVID-19 since the pandemic began. These are deaths that have COVID-19 listed as either the underlying or primary cause of death or as a contributing cause of death, the WDH explains.
Hospitalization data had not been updated as of 3 p.m. Thursday. Hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients in Wyoming dropped to 209 on Wednesday, down from 212 on Monday, according to the WDH. COVID-19 hospitalizations have over the past week dropped down from the most recent peak of 233 on September 8. Peak hospitalizations so far during the pandemic occurred on Nov. 30, 2020, when there were 247 COVID-19 patients in Wyoming hospitals.
There were 45 COVID-19 patients at the Wyoming Medical Center and 43 at the Cheyenne Regional Medical Center on Wednesday. Four hospitals had no available intensive care unit beds on Wednesday. Three had only one ICU bed open. While ICU beds are not exclusively used to treat COVID-19 patients, when hospitals deal with surges in these patients, that can put a strain on their ability to care for other types of critical-needs patients.
64,327 patients have reportedly recovered from a confirmed case statewide, and 14,059 have recovered from a probable case.
The number of COVID-19 cases identified as variants in the state stands at 3,016. Variant cases involve a mutated form of the virus and some may spread more easily or result in more serious illness.
The WDH says its variant dashboard may underestimate the number of variant cases in Wyoming: “Not all positive tests are sequenced to identify which variation of COVID-19 caused illness.”
“National estimates right now are that about 92% of the virus infections in Wyoming and in our region are due to the Delta variant,” State Health Officer Alexia Harrist told WyoFile in August.
“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 after their first symptoms, 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 recovered after their isolation period ends.
County-specific COVID-19 information is available from the Wyoming Department of Health. Confirmed cases by county are as follows (probable cases in parentheses):
- Albany: 4,752 (762)
- Big Horn: 1,239 (293)
- Campbell: 6,344 (676)
- Carbon: 2,033 (265)
- Converse: 719 (1,007)
- Crook: 578 (96)
- Fremont: 5,886 (1,057)
- Goshen: 1,554 (126)
- Hot Springs: 549 (213)
- Johnson: 642 (365)
- Laramie: 10,920 (2,994)
- Lincoln: 1,770 (369)
- Natrona: 7,533 (3,876)
- Niobrara: 109 (159)
- Park: 3,653 (263)
- Platte: 758 (315)
- Sheridan: 3,347 (975)
- Sublette: 847 (185)
- Sweetwater: 5,908 (460)
- Teton: 4,617 (109)
- Uinta: 2,885 (418)
- Washakie: 880 (289)
- Weston: 651 (197)
