Park County COVID-19 Cases on Decline – But Still High

The numbers don’t lie – COVID-19 cases in Park County are steadily declining but still excessively high as regional hospitals struggle to keep up.

Park County Public Health Officer Dr. Aaron Billin continues to post regular updates on the county’s COVID climate on his Facebook page. His latest update on Friday, Oct. 15, shows a tentatively optimistic sign – a steady decline on the graph of active cases.

According to the county’s graph of “Current Active Cases,” the peak of the latest surge – mainly driven by the spread of the Delta variant – may have been reached. And, while it’s too early to tell, the surge begun in August may finally be ending.

Courtesy Park County Public Health

For the first time since the end of August 2021, there are less than 140 active cases of COVID-19 in Park County.

As of Friday, Oct. 15, there were 132 active cases of COVID-19 in Park County. It continues a steady decline from the peak of the latest surge, reached in mid-September with nearly 180 active cases.

Overall, the current surge of the Delta variant hasn’t been quite as bad as the initial surge of the Alpha variant. The peak of that surge was reached in early December 2020, with nearly 190 active cases reported.

Park County’s overall infection and test positivity rates are also in decline but still considered high. However, there is still an average of 31 new cases confirmed every day, which is classified as “extreme” according to the website Covid Act Now.

Courtesy Park County Public Health Officer

Hospitalizations throughout the county are also declining, but there are still more now than at any other point of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cody Regional Health and Powell Valley Healthcare are no longer at total capacity with COVID-19 cases, but numbers are still concerningly high. According to the Wyoming Department of Health, there were 15 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Park County. Ten people are hospitalized at Cody Regional Health and five people at Powell Valley Healthcare.

As recently as Oct. 13, there were 20 COVID-19 hospitalizations in Park County – a peak number reached several times over the past few weeks. It’s also the highest number of hospitalizations of the entire pandemic – the peak of the last surge was 17 hospitalizations on Jan. 6 of this year.

The extreme and persistent number of hospitalizations in Park County is straining the staff and resources of area hospitals. Thankfully, the Wyoming National Guard is providing some non-clinical assistance, mainly through additional COVID-19 testing.

Vaccination remains the best remedy available to keep COVID-19 numbers declining and our community safer.

Of the 155 people seen in the C.R.H. Emergency Department in September, 126 of them – over 83% – were unvaccinated.