Hospital nears crisis point

Crook County Memorial Hospital is reaching crisis point due to the number of people with severe COVID-19 symptoms who are currently seeking medical care. At this time, the hospital is battling to cope with the influx of patients in need of life-saving assistance.

"COVID-19 is definitely on the rise in Crook County, across the State of Wyoming and the nation," says Micki Lyons, CEO of Crook County Medical Services District (CCMSD), who says there has been an explosion of new cases.

"Hospitals, including CCMSD, are being overwhelmed and are facing major staffing shortages."

As a small rural facility, the hospital is limited in the number of beds it can make available to patients. Lyons reported on Friday that the hospital was "bordering crisis mode," with the family room converted to an emergency room and patients in the waiting room and hallways.

At this time, new patients are arriving through the emergency room rather than the clinic.

"We can't turn people away from the ER, so we may have people in the hallways, we may have them down in the clinic," she said of the medical team's efforts to accommodate patients.

The district is also out one clinic provider due to COVID-19 infection, she said, and may need to reduce clinic hours to compensate.

"If anyone else ends up getting sick, it could get worse," Lyons told the board of trustees.

Lyons reminded the board of trustees on Friday that Crook County is in the bottom five counties in Wyoming in terms of vaccinations and said the "vast majority" of serious cases coming in to the hospital are not vaccinated.

While the crisis is ongoing, Lyons would like to assure county residents that everything possible is being done to protect community members and provide medical care to all who need it. However, the decision was made on Thursday to temporarily close the hospital to visitors.

"We are currently shut down to visitation until this calms down and will keep everyone updated as things change," Lyons says.

"CCMSD is offering drive-through COVID-19 testing for those that just want a test. Please contact the hospital lab to schedule."

The district's clinics remain open for appointments and COVID-19 testing is available at the Sundance and Moorcroft locations.

"Please contact the clinics if you have questions about COVID-19 exposure or concerns about COVID-19 symptoms and our staff can direct you," Lyons says.

"For information on the COVID-19 vaccine, please contact Crook County Public Health."

Nearby Facilities

On Monday, Campbell County was reporting 12 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, down from 14 over the weekend. According to the Gillette News Record, while the Campbell County Memorial Hospital is not quite experiencing the staffing crisis of last year, there are concerns over the possibility that the facility could become overwhelmed.

The Casper Star-Tribune reported on Monday that six hospitals in Wyoming have no open intensive care unit beds, including Campbell County Memorial Hospital.

Across the border, the Black Hills Pioneer reports that cases are back to a level not seen since mid-December with 3655 active cases in South Dakota on Thursday.

According to the Pioneer, Monument Health reports its network is near or at capacity but is adding beds for new patients. The 75 new patients admitted on Thursday saw hospitalizations essentially double in the space of one week.

The number of COVID-19 cases among South Dakota residents that can be directly tied to the Sturgis Motorcycle was reported to be 68 as of Friday, according to the Pioneer. This number is expected to climb.

Sicker Patients

The Delta variant has now officially become the dominant strain in Wyoming, with a reported 1019 known cases as of Monday. National trends suggest that people contracting the Delta variant tend to be younger than at the beginning of the pandemic and are also more likely to become sicker.

So far, Wyoming has followed the trend of younger patients. Delta has affected young people more than any other group: 219 of the recorded cases are within the 19-29 age group, 173 in patients between the ages of 30 and 39 and 169 in children under the age of 18.

Conversely, only 21 of the cases have been recorded in persons over the age of 80 and 47 between the ages of 70 and 79.

A study released last week by the Centers for Disease Control last week found that, at this time, infection rates are five times higher among unvaccinated persons. Meanwhile, unvaccinated people are 29 times more likely to be admitted to hospital with COVID-19 symptoms.

Current Stats

Another 26 deaths caused by the COVID-19 virus were announced last week by the Wyoming Department of Health. This brings the total to 835.

As well as four deaths each in Laramie and Natrona counties, the report included three deaths each in Fremont and Sweetwater counties, two each from Campbell, Park, Converse and Carbon counties and one each from Big Horn, Goshen, Hot Springs and Johnson counties.

The news was reported on Tuesday, along with an increase in active COVID-19 cases in Wyoming of 167, bringing the total to 2949. For the first time in months, the active case count topped 3000 the next day; the increase of 423 left Wyoming with 3372, the highest number since December 13.

The count continued to grow as the week continued, climbing by 41 on Thursday and another 21 on Friday to end the week on 3434. Monday saw another increase of 78, bringing the total to 3512.

Active cases represent the total lab confirmed and probable coronavirus cases subtracted by the number of recoveries, taking into account the number of deaths attributed to COVID-19.

The number of hospitalizations in Wyoming increased by 30 over the course of the last week, reaching 195 by Monday. The all-time record during the pandemic still stands at 247 on November 30.

The 14-day average of the percentage of tests that come back with a positive result continues to rise in Wyoming. On Monday, the figure stood at 9.392%, up from 8.503% at the same time last week.

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%.

Between Tuesday and Monday, the number of lab confirmed cases in Crook County increased by 16 to reach a total of 490, while the known probable cases rose by nine to a total of 55.