Four more Park County residents have died in connection with COVID-19 infections, County Health Officer Dr. Aaron Billin said Sunday.

He indicated there have now been 13 local deaths related to the novel coronavirus since the pandemic began in March, with 10 coming over the past two months. Billin learned of the four most recent deaths over the past week.

In Wyoming, a death is only classified as COVID-19-related “if the death certifier (attending physician, coroner, or county health officer) lists COVID-19 on the death certificate as the immediate cause of death or a significant contributor,” Billin said last week.

“We have had deaths where the individual has a positive test for COVID-19, but it was not counted because it had nothing to do with their death,” he added.

Billin also mentioned a specific instance in which he said he “convinced” the Wyoming Department of Health to not include a Park County death in the total, because the person “had previously tested positive for COVID-19, but it did not contribute to the death.”

The Department of Health has so far confirmed only seven of the 13 deaths that Billin has announced, so there’s been very little information released about the more recent ones. In the earlier deaths, the deceased were generally older residents and several had underlying health conditions as well; Billin has also said that three of the recent deaths were residents of the Rocky Mountain Manor. Both age and other health problems put people at higher risk for serious illness from COVID-19, health officials say. Most people recover from the virus on their own at home, with some never realizing they’re infected. The local deaths have come among more than 1,900 confirmed and probable cases that have been logged in the county over the past nine months.

As of Monday, the Department of Health was reporting 403 Wyoming residents have died in connection with COVID-19, out of 43,700 confirmed and probable cases.

However, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 around the state has been sinking — from a peak of 247 patients at the end of November to 115 on Monday.

The drop has not been as significant in Park County: The number of people hospitalized with the disease in Park County has hung between eight and 11 patients over the past week-and-a-half. As of Monday, there were five patients with COVID-19 hospitalized at Powell Valley Healthcare and four at Cody Regional Health, according to data compiled by the state.

However, Department of Health data does suggest COVID-19 activity may have slowed at the local level. As of Monday, there were 101 confirmed or probable active cases in the county — down significantly from the peak of 190 active cases that Billin reported on Dec. 5.