JACKSON, Wyo. — Calling it a “unique, unprecedented and challenging time,” county health officer Dr. Travis Riddell admits he is making the weightiest decisions of his career right now.
“We are going to have to live with this. No one believes it is not coming to this community,” Riddell said at an emergency joint meeting of the town and county Monday. “Efforts we are making are to flatten the curve and allow us to better deal with the disease in our community.”
Riddell assured the mayor that Teton County was a little ahead of the curve at this point when it comes to school closures and other measures taken recently. Closures designed to slow the spread of COVID-19 are recommended by the CDC to be in place for eight to 20 weeks.
Health measures in place now
Dr. Paul Beaupre, Chief Executive Officer of St. John’s Health, described measures taken by the hospital to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
“All employees are tested for temperature upon their arrival for work; 100.4F is the cutoff,” Beaupre says. “Anybody that has gone to Level 3 area is being quarantined. Anyone who has recently visited a Level 2 country is being tested. How long will this go on? We don’t know yet. Twenty weeks seems awfully long.”
The cafeteria at the hospital is grab-and-go only with nurses and doctors eating by themselves.
Beaupre also shared information about testing. Currently, there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Teton County. The hotline put in place for the disease has been fielding a high of 184 calls on March 12.
Last Sunday, for instance, the hotline had 165 calls. Of those, 26 calls resulted in telehealth conferences where doctors were able to question and ‘lay eyes’ on patients. From those, four tests were ordered.
To date, at least 11 tests have come back negative. Beaupre calls this encouraging even though he says he wouldn’t be surprised to learn the disease is already here. “We’re behaving as if it’s in the community already,” Beaupre admits.
So, what about the test? Can you get it? Is it readily available and how long to get the results?
“That’s the million-dollar question,” Beaupre says. “From test-to-results we are looking at best-case scenario: 48 hours. Worst case: 72 hours. That will get better as we are able to test locally. A 3-hour turnaround will be possible then but that is two or three weeks away at this point.”
For now, the hospital is making the call whether a sick person should be tested.
“In an ideal world, anyone who wants to be tested can be tested,” Riddell says. “With the lag time, we can only be confident we didn’t have it two weeks ago.”
Beaupre says faster test turnarounds will not only put members of the public more at ease, but it will aid health officials in determining transmission of the disease—something not yet fully understood.
Any measure put in place now is to slow the spread of COVID-19 and allow healthcare professionals to better care for the sick. For now, steps are being taken by local healthcare providers, and they are impressive in scale.
“We have scenarios where we rehearse for ‘Mass Influx,’ and that’s what we are anticipating here,” Beaupre says. “We can take a large influx of patients right now without having to change the dynamics of how we use the hospital.”
In addition to a certain level of preparedness, the hospital has also erected a temporary tent shelter and is in talks with acquiring other commercial property flex space nearby in case of overflow.
“We are well prepared,” Beaupre assures. “None of the hospitals in the state are at capacity. We are all communicating regarding bed needs.”
