Another case bites the dust

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
For the second time in the past month, Weston County Public Health nurse Lori Bickford has had to report that a previously reported positive COVID-19 case did not belong to the county. Contact tracing and investigation led to the discovery that the individual with positive tests did not technically live in Weston County. 
“The numbers reported by the Wyoming Department of Health come from the entry of the cases at the lab. The investigation begins after the lab is entered into the system because it has to be a confirmed positive,” Bickford said. 
According to Bickford, the mislabeling of the positive test result as belonging to Weston County was the result of wrong information being provided on the lab requisition from the individual’s provider. 
“Whoever ordered the labs for those individuals used an old address, because during the investigation, I was able to find out current addresses,” Bickford said. 
Once Bickford discovered the current address, she contacted the Wyoming Department of Health’s epidemiology department to disclose that she was able to confirm the misinformation in the lab request. 
“Today (Tuesday, Aug. 11) the number should be changed to reflect the removal of that case,” Bickford said. “Unless there is additional positives reported today before 3 p.m., Weston County will have five confirmed cases.”
Bickford said that while
the situation is frustrating but correctable.
“Those are things that you don’t find out until you start pealing back the layers and start to verify and confirm the information,” Bickford said. “That is how I can let the department know and get those cases removed. “
As of 3 p.m. on Aug. 10, Wyoming had a total of 2,565 confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to the department of health’s website. Of those cases, 2,081 have recovered and 28 deaths attributed to COVID-19 have occurred in the state. 
Wyoming is currently reporting a total of 82,445 total tests performed on 57,205 people. Of those, 574 of the tests were performed in Weston County with only 0.7% of the tests resulting in a positive COVID-19 case. 
Bickford encouraged the community to continue to practice caution to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Unfortunately, she said, COVID-19 is something the public is going to have to be cautious about until a treatment or vaccine is available.