COVID-19 continues to spread in Park County, though the last few days of test results indicate that the recent surge may have peaked for the moment.

However, 11 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Park County on Monday, according to state data, which is the highest number of the pandemic. That included eight people hospitalized at Cody Regional Health and three at Powell Valley Healthcare.

Park County had reached a new high of 323 active confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases on Saturday, according to Wyoming Department of Health data. That figure dropped to 248 on Monday, as the number of people who’ve officially recovered from the virus exceeded the number of new cases.

However, Park County Health Officer Dr. Aaron Billin, who has more up-to-date data, listed a smaller total of active cases on Saturday. Thanks to numerous recoveries, he put the number of active infections at 124 — well less than half of the figure tabulated by the state.

Over the past week — from Oct. 26 through Monday — 108 people in the county were confirmed to have been infected with the novel coronavirus, or were deemed as probable cases after coming into contact with an infected person and developing symptoms, the Wyoming Department of Health reported. That was a notable improvement from the prior week, when 170 new cases were logged.

Still, the numbers reflect much greater spread than the early months of the pandemic.

Heading into October, Park County had never had more than 49 active cases at any given time, according to the Department of Health’s figures. But case numbers rose rapidly through last month, with nearly 400 people confirmed to have the disease and more than 60 others labeled as probable cases. That was nearly double the number of confirmed and probable cases that had been seen in the county in the previous six months combined. The percent of local residents whose tests are coming back positive for COVID-19 has also risen, indicating the virus is more widespread.

“Our increasing positivity rate is largely due to ‘pandemic fatigue,’ leading to decreasing social distancing and mask use,” Park County Public Health Officer Dr. Aaron Billin said Sunday, also noting that “more activities are being held indoors as the weather gets colder.”

Over the weekend, Billin again urged residents to wear masks when appropriate, maintain physical distancing, cooperate with contact tracers and stay home when sick.

“We need people to do what only they can do (not public health or the government),” he said Sunday, adding that, “We are working to protect vulnerable populations, such as nursing homes and institutional settings.”

As for the idea of closing certain businesses again, “Shutting things down does not change the total number of infections, it only delays them,” Billin said. He instead pitched the same precautions that health officials have been encouraging for months.

“We must do these high return on investment interventions until a vaccine allows us to reach accelerated herd immunity,” he said.

Across the state, the number of COVID-19 patients being cared for in Wyoming hospitals hit a new high of 120 on Friday, before dropping to 117 on Sunday. Most people infected with the new coronavirus recover at home, suffering mild or moderate flu-like symptoms if any at all, but it can cause serious illness or, in rare cases, death. The elderly and those with underlying health conditions are at greater risk.

As of Monday, state officials had announced 87 deaths related to COVID-19 out of more than 19,700 confirmed and probable cases that have been logged in Wyoming since the pandemic began.