Unvaccinated outnumber vaccinated in ER; few employees noncompliant with mandate

WORLAND – During their regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday, Oct. 26, Washakie Medical Center Hospital Board discussed COVID-19 case numbers and Banner Health’s vaccine mandate, which was effective Nov. 1

Banner Health, which owns and operates 30 acute-care hospitals around the country, including four in Wyoming, announced on July 20 a change to its employee vaccination program. The change requires Banner Health staff to have received the COVID-19 vaccination by Nov. 1.

As of Tuesday, Oct. 26, Banner had hired a new employee. They had 93% (135) of employees complaint with the vaccination mandate, 3% (four) non-compliant and 4% (six) pending.

According to the Hospital Board, Nov. 15 is now the deadline to complete the vaccinations or the employee faces getting taken off the schedule. If the employee is not vaccinated by the end of the month, other measures will be taken.

COVID-19 CASES

Between Sept. 21, 2021, and Oct. 26, 2021, the WMC emergency department encountered 478 patients. Out of these patients, 127 were COVID patients. Out of the 127 COVID patients, 114 were unvaccinated, seven were vaccinated and six were unknown.

During that time, 46 COVID patients were admitted or transferred to another hospital. Out of those patients, 40 of them were unvaccinated and 3 of them were vaccinated.

As of Nov. 2, there are currently 30 active lab-confirmed cases in Washakie County with an additional 24 probable cases.

There have been 71 lab-confirmed cases in the county in the past 14 days.

There were two COVID patients hospitalized as of Monday.