The number of local residents battling COVID-19 continues to plummet, according to state data, with the number of active infections falling nearly 40% over the past week.

As of Wednesday, there were 52 people in Park County with confirmed or probable cases of the disease, down from 85 a week earlier and down substantially from this fall’s peak.

“Active cases and hospitalizations are down significantly in Park County and Wyoming,” said Park County Health Officer Dr. Aaron Billin.

As of Wednesday, there were seven patients hospitalized with COVID-19 at Cody Regional Health and another four at Powell Valley Hospital. The 11 hospitalizations actually represented an increase from the prior week, when there were nine people hospitalized with the disease.

Although case numbers have improved dramatically in recent weeks, the surge in cases came at a cost that is still being tallied. This week, the Wyoming Department of Health announced eight more local deaths connected to COVID-19. Seven of those Park County residents died in November, with another in October. Four of the deceased were women and four were men, while five had health conditions known to put people at higher risk of developing severe illness from COVID-19.

Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, there have now been 105 deaths among Park County residents among 5,480 cases.

Public health officials continue to encourage residents to take precautions to reduce the risk of spreading the disease, including by being vaccinated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently updated their guidelines to recommend booster shots for those who have been immunized, recommending the shots for any adults who received their second Pfizer or Moderna dose at least six months ago or a Johnson and Johnson (Janssen) COVID-19 vaccine at least two months earlier.

Dr. Alexia Harrist, state health officer and state epidemiologist, said last month that COVID-19 vaccines are safe, effective and “especially good at protecting against severe illness.” A booster dose, she said, “can enhance and extend the strong protection these vaccines provide.”

She added that the state’s low vaccination rates — with only around 42% of the population getting the shots — “continue to make too many of our residents vulnerable to the aggressive Delta variant.”

“We continue to see more case counts, hospitalizations and deaths than we should,” Harrist said. 

As of Monday, 12,155 Park County residents, representing about 41.6% of the population, were fully vaccinated, according to state data. That was an increase of 91 people.