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The number of Park County residents battling COVID-19 infections has been on the decline for weeks, but that may change as the new Omicron variant begins to circulate in the area.
“Active …
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The number of Park County residents battling COVID-19 infections has been on the decline for weeks, but that may change as the new Omicron variant begins to circulate in the area.
“Active cases and hospitalizations are down in Park County. However, numbers are trending back up for Wyoming,” County Health Officer Dr. Aaron Billin said Monday. “Inevitably, the Omicron variant will come to Park County. With data suggesting that the Omicron variant is more transmissible and less virulent, we anticipate an increase in Park County cases with a lesser rate of hospitalization and death.”
As of Wednesday, there were 67 confirmed and probable cases in the county that remained active, according to Wyoming Department of Health data. That was up from 43 and 47 cases the prior two weeks. The number of people hospitalized with the disease in Park County remained unchanged over the past week, with seven patients on Wednesday. That included four patients at Powell Valley Healthcare and three at Cody Regional Health.
This week, the Department of Health also announced that the deaths of four more Park County residents have been tied to COVID-19. All four men died last month; two were over the age of 64 and had health conditions known to put people at higher risk of severe illness, the department said.
Billin said it’s possible that the novel coronavirus may eventually become a seasonal disease that remains “occasionally lethal.”
“Recent evidence about the less severe disease caused by the Omicron variant suggests that SARS-CoV-2 may be going the way of other viruses in recent memory (influenza, West Nile virus, Zika, etc.),” Billin said Tuesday.
He encouraged people to get vaccinated against illnesses, to practice physical distancing, wear masks in “appropriate high-risk settings,” ensure adequate ventilation, wash hands, stay home when sick and clean and disinfect.
“We saw almost no influenza or RSV last year in Wyoming because people were doing these things. This year influenza and RSV have come back with a vengeance because people have stopped doing these things,” he said. “The pandemic has reinforced that these things are always a good idea, not just during a pandemic.”
As of Monday, 12,492 people in Park County were fully vaccinated, representing 42.8% of the population. That’s a little below the state average of 43.6% and well below the national average of 62.3%.
