JACKSON, Wyo. — The rising number of cases of the coronavirus in Teton mirrors what is happening across the state as Wyoming has picked up an average of 98 new cases daily for the past two weeks.
“That does not bode well for us,” Governor Mark Gordon stated somberly during a press conference Monday.
The uptick has local healthcare officials worried as COVID has spread into the long-term care facility at St. John’s Health where eight residents of Sage Living have now tested positive for the virus along with two staffers despite strict visitation guidelines.
The Town of Jackson plans to return to community updates every two weeks after reducing the regular press conferences to once a month. An update is scheduled for this Friday.
Travel and tourism, which has remained extraordinarily robust in Teton County to date, may be partially to blame for the spike in numbers. But Wyoming, in general, is also beginning to feel the effects of what Gordon called careless behavior brought on by pandemic fatigue and spurious medical information.
“Over the past months, perhaps buoyed by the amazing amount of bogus information out there, more people are getting the virus and now we are seeing significantly higher hospitalizations here in Wyoming,” the governor said. “Just a few weeks ago, our experience seemed to be going so well. What that means, plain and simple, is fewer people are going to feel safe going out for supper and going to the store. That will slow our economic recovery and mean more people will stay isolated longer when we need exactly the opposite to happen.”
Two weeks ago, when the governor announced a loosening of restrictions for restaurants in Wyoming, the state was considered the fourth least-restricted in the nation and had one of the three lowest infection rates, boasting the lowest mortality rate. Cases now, however, are surging, according to State Health Officer Dr. Alexia Harrist.
Harrist shared that the uptick in cases is beginning to put some strain on the healthcare system in certain regions and has hampered the ability to do effective contact tracing. The governor authorized the Wyoming National Guard to assist with contact tracing for at least the next 30 days until more help can be brought on board.
Outbreaks have occurred at the university in Laramie, at social gatherings, schools, workplaces, and hospitals, Harrist said.
“A big and very real worry is for our hospitals to be pushed past their limit if the number of seriously ill COVID patients rises,” Harrist said during the press conference. “We are seeing that happen right now in at least one neighbor state: Montana. The largest hospital in Billings, where many Wyoming patients are frequently treated, has been forced to add beds and transfer back to Wyoming many Wyoming patients. We are hearing about local hospitals also feeling the pressure.”
Harrist promised a release of free at-home saliva tests coming soon. The state will also be getting 170,000 more rapid testing kits from the federal government in the coming days.
“I do know all of this is extremely fatiguing. But this is a serious call to action,” Gordon encouraged. “We loosened restrictions because I thought people in Wyoming would do the right thing—and I continue to believe they will—but we don’t want to see us go backwards. We don’t want to lose the high ground that we have.”
