COVID: 100 new cases, 2 deaths recorded in past week County officials urge residents to take precautions

WORLAND —Washakie County recorded two deaths from COVID-19, according to the Wyoming Department of Health bringing the total to 29.

One death was reported as an older adult man who died in September. He was hospitalized and was not known to have health conditions known to put people at higher risk of severe illness. The second death was an adult Washakie County woman who died within the last week. She was hospitalized and was not known to have health conditions known to put people at higher risk of severe illness, according to the Wyoming DOH.

The county’s 27th death was reported on Aug. 31, but prior to that it had been more than six months since a COVID death in the county had been reported. There were 10 deaths reported throughout the month of January.

Washakie County also saw 100 new lab-confirmed cases in one week from Sept. 28 to Oct. 5 with 1,066 cases since the pandemic began last year. There are currently, as of Oct. 5, 95 active COVID cases in Washakie County.

The largest number of cases are in the 50-59 age group with 160. According to the Wyoming Department of Health there have been 157 each in the 18 and under age group and in the 40-49 age group.

With the rise in cases and two reported deaths, Amanda Heinemeyer, the county nurse manager at Washakie County Public Health, brought some concerns to the Washakie County commissioner board’s attention, at the regular meeting Tuesday.

Heinemeyer explained to the board that Washakie County Public Health is still vaccinating patients.

“This week we will start our flu clinics,” she added. “The first large flu clinic will be on Thursday out at the fairgrounds, in the big building. So that’s taking up more of our time as well. It’s hard to schedule flu clinics as well as Moderna clinics and Pfizer clinics.”

Concerning COVID testing, Heinemeyer mentioned that all the doctor’s offices in Worland do COVID testing. “For free testing, go through the Wyoming Department of Health,” she said. “If you go to the Department of Health’s website, you can request to receive a test that’s actually overnighted to you. You do it yourself, put it in the mail and then you’ll have your results in two to three days.

“People, while they wait for test results, should isolate at home. A lot of times, we’re hearing that people are returning to work while they’re waiting for their test results. But, if they’re being tested, they should probably stay home and stay away from people,” Heinemeyer said. “All positive tests are turned in to the Wyoming Department of Health as communicable disease statute. That’s a requirement by state statute. Those are then uploaded into a system, and the state will call the positives.”

She recommended that those waiting on a phone call should go to the Wyoming Department of Health’s website for more information on quarantining, isolation, as well as receive a letter for work if they do test positive.

The website has resources for those to read that discuss what to do if you test positive or exposed, as well as a quarantine calculator – which will help those who are exposed calculate how long they have to stay isolated, as well as members of their household.

“We just need to remind people that you need to isolate at home and that you need to stay away from people in your household for 10 days from the day of symptom onset. Or, if you don’t have symptoms but come back positive, it’s 10 days from the date of the test,” Heinemeyer said. “We recommend you stay in a specific room away from other people and use a separate bathroom, if available. Avoid sharing household items and have other people take care of your animals. Be sure to wash your hands before and after. People in your household should quarantine as well for up to 14 days to monitor for symptoms.”

Heinemeyer added, “People are afraid to go in and get tested, but there are monoclonal antibodies that are available for those who are at higher risk for illness and the sooner you go in and get tested, the sooner they can give those monoclonal antibodies to decrease your chances of becoming incredibly ill,” she said.

“One of the reasons we’re talking about this right now is there are people who are positive, and have been told they are positive and they’re going to stores here in town instead of quarantining,” Chairman Fred Frandson said. “We’re not trying to push masks, not trying to push vaccines, but what we’re trying to say is that you have a responsibility that if you are sick, please stay home. Please don’t be a spreader. Just stay home and do your part to stop this from spreading. That right there will help immensely, while keeping COVID numbers down.

“I hear it too. ‘I don’t want to be one of the statistics,’ if you don’t want to be one of the statistics, then stay home,” Frandson said.

“Our big concern here is our hospital capacity,” he said. “We have 15 rooms over there than can get filled fairly quickly, that’s why we would like to keep that spread down, so there isn’t an overload on our medical community and to do that, we need to do our part.

“If we had been thinking ‘if you’re sick, stay home,’ the flu wouldn’t have been such rampant through our schools and our work. We need to learn from this and apply common sense.”

More on the commissioners’ meeting will be published in the Oct. 14 issue of the Northern Wyoming News.

Karla Pomeroy contributed to this story.