Laramie County Leads State In Active COVID Cases, Hospitalization

UPDATE: Cheyenne Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Kathy Baker sent Townsquare Media an email today around noon saying the latest CRMC COVID-19 hospitalization numbers show that 21 people are hospitalized with the virus at the Cheyenne hospital. That number includes nine people who are in the Intensive Care Unit and five people who are on ventilators.

Original Post: While the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be leveling off or declining across Wyoming, some trends in Laramie County seem to be running against the tide of overall statewide recovery, at least relatively speaking.

At least two Cheyenne-area organizations closed at the start of June because of COVID 19 cases among employees. While the Cheyenne Family YMCA reopened after a week, the Cheyenne Animal Shelter as of Monday, June 14 remained closed due to what the agency’s website termed a shortage of staff.

Meanwhile, a check of the Wyoming Department of Health COVID-19 dashboard on Monday morning showed Laramie County appears to be a relative hotspot for the virus compared to the rest of the state.

While Laramie County is the most populous county in the state, the case numbers are disproportionate to the differences in population.

For example, the dashboard shows Laramie County with 134 active cases, far ahead of Sweetwater County, which was second in the state with 57 active cases. By comparison, Natrona County, the second-most populous county in the state, had only 26 active cases. Natrona County’s population is roughly 18,000 fewer than Laramie County, while Sweetwater County has about 55,000 fewer people.

The same dashboard showed Laramie County leading the state in new cases of the virus with 46. Sweetwater County was again a distant second with 15, Campbell County was third with 9. Most counties were showing zero new cases or only one according to the data.

Cheyenne Regional Medical Center likewise showed the most hospitalizations of any state medical facility with 15. Wyoming Medical Center in Casper was second with 8 people hospitalized.

Wyoming Department of Health spokeswoman Kim Deti told Townsquare Media that  most statewide COVID case numbers have been “pretty stable for a couple of months now.” But she went on to say that there are some areas of the state that have been seeing more COVID activity, adding that “Laramie County is one of those areas.”

She added ”People might want to believe and we all wish that the pandemic is completely over, but it’s not.” She went on to say that the overwhelming majority of new coronavirus cases in recent months have occurred among people who are not completely vaccinated. Deti reminded people of the importance of vaccinations, adding ”they are free, they are safe, and they are effective.”