Active cases continue to soar

Officials are continuing to urge people who have not yet been vaccinated to book a first shot as COVID-19 continues its steady spread across Wyoming during this second wave of infections. According to the Wyoming Department of Health, the vast majority of new cases and hospitalizations are among those who have not been fully vaccinated.

“We continue to see a rise in cases driven by the more transmissible Delta variant, with cases concentrated in communities with lower vaccination rates,” said Jeff Zients, the head of the President’s COVID-19 team, during a press briefing last week.

“So this remains a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”

According to Zients, vaccine uptake is on the increase. Over the first couple of weeks in August, he said, nearly seven million people got their first shot – the highest two-week total since the beginning of June.

At this time, the U.S. is averaging over 500 deaths from COVID-19 per day, according to Walensky, and they are largely preventable.

“Nearly all the cases of severe disease, hospitalization and death continue to occur among those not yet vaccinated at all,” reads the CDC’s statement.

“We will continue to ramp up efforts to increase vaccinations here at home and to ensure people have accurate information about vaccines from trusted sources.”

Vaccine Approval

On Monday, the FDA announced that it had given approval the Pfizer vaccine, the first of the three COVID-19 vaccines currently available in the United States to move from emergency to final approval.

“While millions of people have already safely received COVID-19 vaccines, we recognize that for some, the FDA approval of a vaccine may now instill additional confidence to get vaccinated,” said Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock in a press release. “Today’s milestone puts us one step closer to altering the course of this pandemic in the U.S.”

The agency announced it had performed a thorough evaluation of the vaccine using scientific data and information included in hundreds of thousands of pages, as well as its own analyses and a detailed assessment of the manufacturing processes.

“The public and medical community can be confident that although we approved this vaccine expeditiously, it was fully in keeping with our existing high standards for vaccines in the U.S.,” said Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

Also on Monday, the Casper Star-Tribune reported that more Wyomingites had received a first vaccine dose in the previous two weeks than in any 14-day period since mid-May. According to its analysis of WDH numbers, 7400 people were given a first shot in that time.

However, Crook County is now listed as the least vaccinated county in Wyoming with just 19.46% of the population fully vaccinated. At the state level, 34.79% of Wyoming has received full vaccination.

Schools

According to Governor Mark Gordon, keeping schools open is a priority this year. With no mask mandates in place, on Monday he urged citizens to take personal responsibility and help minimize the “ripple effect” of illness and quarantining on communities and the economy through vaccination and wearing masks.

“While there will be no state vaccine mandate in Wyoming, we know promoting vaccination among eligible students, school staff, family members and throughout our communities can help schools stay open and vibrant as well as help keep students and their teachers in the classroom,” said Dr. Alexia Harrist, state health officer.

“An additional benefit to COVID-19 vaccination is that individuals who are fully vaccinated and identified as close contacts do not need to quarantine, which can be helpful in the school setting.”

Nursing Homes

President Joe Biden also announced last week that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will be developing new regulations for nursing homes that will require all workers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of the facility participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

According to the President’s announcement, both the CDC and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have data confirming a strong relationship between the increase of COVID-19 cases among nursing home residents and the rate of vaccination among nursing home workers.

Ongoing Stats

The pandemic continues to cause alarming statistics in Wyoming, including the announcement of 16 deaths caused by COVID-19 last week. This included seven in Laramie County, four in Albany County and one each in Albany, Campbell, Sheridan, Sublette and Sweetwater counties.

Earlier in the pandemic, the majority of deaths were among older adults and/or people with conditions known to cause a higher risk of severe illness. According to the Wyoming Department of Health, however, only seven of the 16 deaths announced last week were among older adults and five of those who died did not have any prior known health conditions.

By Wednesday, the number of known active cases in Wyoming had reached a number not seen since December 14, when the first wave was beginning to wane. After increasing by 451 since the day before, active cases reached a recorded 2674; 17 of those active cases were reported to be in Crook County.

The next day saw a slight decline of 22 active cases as the 234 new lab confirmed and 72 probable cases were outpaced by 328 reported recoveries. However, on Friday another jump in new known infections saw the active cases rise again by 129 to 2781.

Despite a reported 724 new lab confirmed cases and 167 probables on Monday, the number of recoveries saw the active case count grow by just one to 2782.

Hospitalizations due to the virus continue to climb rapidly in tandem with the rise in active cases across Wyoming. By Monday, the number of people in hospital due to COVID-19 had risen to 165.

According to the Casper Star-Tribune, five hospitals in this state reported a critical staffing shortage to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last week, with four hospitals anticipating a shortage soon.

Crook County’s lab-confirmed case numbers have risen by 18 in the last week alone. Four new probable cases have also been added to the county’s data; on Monday, Crook County had 29 known active cases, according to Crook County Public Health.

The percentage of tests that come back with a positive result for COVID-19 is recorded in Wyoming as a rolling 14-day average. During the first wave, this reached a peak of 6.655% on January 8.

After dropping to between 1.5% and 2.5% between March and June, this number reached a new record of 7.090% a couple of weeks ago. Since then, it has continued to grow, reaching 8.861% on August 23.

In other words, of every 100 tests performed in this state, just under nine are currently coming back with a positive result for COVID-19 infection. According to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, this is a critical measure because it indicates how widespread infection is. A higher percent positive can suggest higher transmission and that there are likely more people with the virus in the community who haven’t been tested yet.

A percent positive considered to be “too high” is generally understood to be greater than 5%.