Roy Edwards

Another 13 deaths related to COVID-19 were announced by the Wyoming Department of Health on Tuesday. That brought the total number of deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus to 127 since the pandemic began in March — including 30 confirmed in the past week-and-a-half and 75 within the last month.

“Are you getting tired of seeing these announcements? I am,” Park County Health Officer Dr. Aaron Billin said in sharing the most recent death count on Tuesday evening.

Billin once again encouraged people to wear masks when around other people, wash hands frequently and avoid touching your face, stay 6 feet away from others except your family group, avoid unnecessary gatherings, cooperate with contact tracing and to stay home when sick.

The vast majority of people who become infected with the new virus recover on their own while suffering mild or moderate symptoms, with Wyoming’s 127 deaths coming among more than 19,300 confirmed and probable cases. The elderly and those with underlying health conditions are the most vulnerable. Of the 13 deaths announced on Tuesday, 12 of those people were “older residents” and/or “had health conditions recognized as putting patients at higher risk of serious illness related to COVID-19,” the department said.

During a memorial service on Saturday, former state Rep. Roy Edwards’ son Mitch confirmed that his late father had COVID-19 when he died last week.

Edwards, R-Gillette, died Nov. 2 at Wyoming Medical Center in Casper after being hospitalized for more than a week with what was an undisclosed illness at the time.

The 66-year-old had been vocally opposed to public health orders regarding COVID-19 throughout the pandemic and while campaigning for re-election. He was re-elected to his seat in the state House on Election Day, the day after he died; a replacement will be chosen by the Campbell County Commission.

Mitch said his father had experienced minor symptoms that were at first dismissed as allergies, but sought further medical attention when he had trouble breathing on Oct. 23.

“My mom took him to the emergency room where he was diagnosed with COVID pneumonia and transported to the Wyoming Medical Center in Casper,” Mitch said during his father’s livestreamed service.

After initially responding well to treatment, Edwards’ condition suddenly worsened, Mitch said.

“Roy [Edwards] believed that COVID was real and that it was serious,” he said, “but at the same time he was critical and outspoken of policies that shuttered people’s livelihoods, resulted in husbands being kept from their wives and children being kept from their parents and loved ones being apart.”

While the elderly and those with other health conditions are most at-risk, anyone can become seriously ill from COVID-19. Early Tuesday morning at Powell Valley Healthcare, Dr. Billin said he “saw a relatively young and healthy patient (with no risk factors) in the ER with respiratory difficulty.”

“The COVID-19 test was negative. Yet this patient developed a dangerously low oxygen level while in the ER and had to be admitted to the hospital for supplemental oxygen, remdesivir, and steroids,” Billin said.

Then, “a CT scan of the chest confirmed active COVID-19
pneumonia,” he said.

Billin said it was a lesson that people should stay home when sick, even if they test negative for COVID-19. He guessed that “at least 20%” of the most accurate polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests used in Wyoming result in false negatives.

“A negative test doesn’t get you out of quarantine, it doesn’t mean that you can go to work or school when sick, and it doesn’t mean that you don’t have COVID-19 and can pass it on to those at risk for a bad outcome,” Billin said, adding that “the false positive rate of the test is minimal and it is highly accurate when it is positive.”

According to Wyoming Department of Health data, 178 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 at facilities around the state on Tuesday — once again reaching a new high. That included four patients at Powell Valley Healthcare and three at Cody Regional Health.

The department listed 381 active infections in the county, though Billin, who has more up-to-date information, has shared much lower numbers of active cases.

(This story includes reporting from Tribune Deputy Editor CJ Baker and from the Gillette News Record, via the Wyoming News Exchange.)