Park County officials received another piece of data this week indicating that, at least as of late May, there has been little COVID-19 circulating in the area.

On Tuesday, a lab notified City of Cody leaders that a sample of raw sewage — collected from the city’s sewer system on May 20 — appeared to contain no genetic material from the new coronavirus, which is formally known as SARS-CoV-2.

The lab, Biobot Analytics of Massachusetts, had previously found no sign of the disease in a sample collected on April 28.

Park County Health Officer Dr. Aaron Billin called the second straight negative test “very encouraging.”

“Along with the fact that we’ve only had the two cases,” added Park County Public Health Nurse Manager Bill Crampton.

A Cody Regional Health employee tested positive at the hospital back in March, while another woman tested positive at Powell Valley Healthcare last month. The woman tested at PVHC was later hospitalized in Billings, but she, like the first patient, went on to recover from the disease.

A third sample was set to be collected from the city’s sewage on Tuesday night and shipped off Wednesday morning.

“This is to establish a baseline and how/if it changes will be seen as visitors come into Park County in greater numbers,” Billin explained in a Facebook post.

Health officials are also beginning a new program that — on a “purely voluntary” basis — will involve testing random employees at local businesses that host tourists.

“This testing program will allow businesses to detect transmission of the virus and to take appropriate action to prevent spread that could threaten their businesses,” county officials said in a Wednesday news release.

While Park County’s case numbers have remained low, there have been three cases confirmed in neighboring Big Horn County since Saturday — apparently including one patient who was tested at Powell Valley Healthcare — and four residents at a Worland nursing home died after an outbreak of COVID-19 at the facility last month.

On a per capita basis, Park County has had the fewest cases of COVID-19 in the entire state.

Billin credited the low number of cases, in part, to the cautious approach that county officials and residents have taken to try curbing the disease’s spread.

Based on one model he looked at using Park County data, “we could have seen a whole lot more sickness and death had we not done what we did,” Billin said, adding, “I think our success is because of our efforts and not in spite of our efforts.”

However, it still remains something of a mystery as to why Park County has had so few cases.

“I think we’re all a little baffled. We’re next to Billings, we’re next to the park, we’re a tourist destination,” Billin said. “Are we really that good at doing our job and social distancing? I doubt it.”

For instance, on Wednesday, the Park County COVID-19 Incident Management Team said it’s received reports from local merchants that some businesses are not adhering to the state’s current health orders. The team said it’s depending on local businesses to follow the restrictions — and relying on local residents and visitors “to patronize the businesses that are operating with those considerations in mind.”

“I think a lot of it is, it’s just turned out that way,” Billin said of the low number of positive tests in Park County. “And maybe we’re just really, really lucky. But we can’t take that for granted. We have to do things responsibly.”

While Billin believes the county has been highly successful in “flattening the curve,” a big surge in cases could still come and overwhelm the area’s medical systems in a matter of a few weeks, he said.

Billin added that flattening the curve doesn’t mean fewer infections or deaths from COVID-19; it just means spreading them out and keeping hospitals from being overwhelmed, he said.

“The same number of people are probably going to come in contact with this virus no matter what we do,” Billin said.

However, the county is now better prepared than when the pandemic began, the doctor said, with “almost unlimited testing available” and “surge plans” in place at Powell Valley Healthcare and West Park Hospital.