County’s COVID count remains steady

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
Weston County continues to see a steady number of positive COVID-19 cases according to data from the Wyoming Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 
“The numbers do not seem to be decreasing, and we have no indication on how long this wave will last,” said Maureen Cadwell, CEO of Weston County Health Services, who confirmed the reported number of COVID-19 positive individuals. 
“We continue to see some very sick patients and continue to have concerns with the transmission of COVID-19,” she added. 
According to information provided by Weston County Health Services, from Aug. 15 to Sept. 15, Weston County had a total of 10 residents hospitalized with COVID-19, five of whom were on a ventilator, three who were treated and returned home and two who died from complications of the virus. 
In the past 14 days, Weston County has seen a total of 57 cases, according to the Wyoming Department of Health. The CDC reports that 29 of those cases have been confirmed in the past seven days, with a positivity rate of 5.77% for the 208 tests performed during the same time frame. 
To-date Weston County has had 687 lab-confirmed positives and 223 probable cases. Probable cases are defined as an assumed case based on positive antigen testing or the person being a symptomatic close contact of a lab-confirmed case. 
To date, the Wyoming Department of Health is reporting eight deaths in Weston County and 996
deaths statewide. 
Wyoming has had 91,169 total lab-confirmed and probable cases since the pandemic began. The health department reports that 2,804 of those cases are active. 
As for vaccination rates, approximately 37.68% of Wyoming residents have been fully vaccinated. This represents roughly 218,077 total vaccinated persons. 
Weston County currently has approximately 30% of the population vaccinated, or about 2,104 people. While the number of vaccinated has increased recently, Cadwell said it is not too late for the public to receive the vaccine. 
“We still have the vaccine available for anyone that would like it and see that it definitely decreases the severity of the symptoms overall,” Cadwell said.
Data provided by the facility shows that all of the recent hospitalized county residents were unvaccinated.