State health orders continue to ease

Just two statewide health orders remain in effect as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ease across Wyoming, and both will see modest relaxations on Friday. The decision has been made to continue loosening restrictions due to both the success of the vaccination campaign so far and the improving statistics throughout the state.

“We continue to see stable case numbers in most places along with fewer hospitalizations and fewer deaths,” said Dr. Alexia Harrist, state health officer, in a press release.

“Because COVID-19 is still around and our vaccine campaign is ongoing we need to continue with some precautions in our orders, especially related to schools and large events.”

The orders will continue to affect schools and educational institutions in terms of required physical distancing, but room capacity limitations are being removed and the mask guidelines have been updated to be more consistent with the current recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control.

The second health order has been changed to now allow indoor events of more than 500 people, as long as this does not exceed 50% of the venue capacity. Certain face mask protocols will be required for large indoor events.

Ongoing Stats

At this time, Wyoming is still experiencing a low number of daily cases. An increase of just 371 confirmed and probable cases during the past week has the total number of cases recorded in Wyoming rise to 47,552.

Only two cases – one probable and one confirmed – have been recorded in Crook County over the last week, where the overall totals now sit at 391 and 33 respectively. The greatest number was recorded in Laramie County, where 90 new cases were recorded over the space of the week; Teton County had 60 new cases and Sweetwater County had 54.

Active cases on Monday sat at precisely the same number as one week before. As of March 29, Wyoming still has 419 active coronavirus cases; Crook County is currently reported to have two active cases.

Vaccine Program

A real-world study by the Centers for Disease Control brought positive news for the vaccine program this week by proving the Moderna and Pfizer versions to be highly effective in preventing both symptomatic and asymptomatic infections in an everyday life situation.

The study asked 3950 people who are more exposed than most to the virus, including health care personnel and frontline workers, to take weekly COVID-19 tests for 13 weeks. The results showed that full immunization is 90% effective against the virus, while partial immunization (from around two weeks after the first dose is received) is 80% effective.

In other words, a person who was fully vaccinated was 90% less likely to get infected with COVID-19. According to the published summary of the study, this is consistent with the results for the two vaccines during trials.

The vaccine program in Crook County continues apace, with first doses administered to 1056 people as of Tuesday. Of those people, 820 have received their second dose and are fully immunized.

Crook County Public Health has planned another mass vaccination clinic for the first week of April and expects that every individual on the current waiting list will have received their first dose by the end of that day. Public Health is urging anyone who would like to be placed on the waiting list to contact the office.