County at 86 active cases

Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) added two more positive cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) earlier this week as Carbon County’s active cases continue to rise. Additionally, the county has added one more COVID-related death bringing the count to three.

On November 8, CCSD2 Superintendent Jim Copeland updated the school district website to include two positive cases in Saratoga. While previous cases had been staff members, the two new cases were students. Copeland wrote that the school district was following guidance from Carbon County Public Health (CCPH), which was doing contact tracing as they deemed necessary.

“We are currently following all protocols and enhanced cleaning practices. However, we are doubling down on both,” wrote Copeland. “Again—as previously stated—continue to watch for symptoms in your students and keep them home if they exhibit symptoms. It is apparent that COVID cases in our state, county and district communities are increasing. If you have any questions regarding whether your student should stay home, feel free to reach out to one of our nurses for advice.”

Copeland added that, if any district nursing staff observe symptoms or believe that close contact with a positive case is a factor, they may contact parents to direct them to either quarantine or take a COVID test.

“CCPH determines if any whole-class quarantines are necessary,” Copeland wrote.

The superintendent also shared positive news within the district. Following tests of 20 CCSD2 staff members as part of the random testing program, all came back negative.

The trend of active cases within the county and the state continues to increase as Carbon County added 32 active cases of COVID-19 between November 5 and November 10. In a situational debrief on Thursday afternoon, the Carbon County COVID-19 Incident Management Team reported 54 active cases within the county. By Monday evening, however, the Wyoming Department of Health website showed a total of 86 active cases.

On Monday, the Saratoga Sun reached out to Jacquelin Wells, public information officer for the Carbon County COVID-19 Incident Management Team, about active and total cases within the Platte Valley. Wells responded that she had requested that information from the State of Wyoming, but it was not available as of press time.

Just last week, Wyoming added a total of 27 new deaths to the state’s total count with one of those being a Carbon County resident. According to a press release from the Wyoming Department of Health, the resident was an older man who had died in October and was a resident of a local long-term care facility. While Carbon County’s official COVID-related death total is at three, the state total has increased to 114.

As of November 5, there were 5,700 active cases of COVID-19 in Wyoming with 15,311 confirmed cases since the pandemic began in March and, of those, 9,139 had recovered. Carbon County has now had 350 confirmed cases since the pandemic began and, of those 261 have recovered. Additionally, there have been 37 probable cases since the pandemic began and, of those, 33 have recovered.

Due to the continued increase in active COVID-19 cases across Wyoming, the Wyoming Department of Health announced a change in contact tracing procedures on November 6. According to a press release from the department of health, calls would only be made to Wyoming residents who had tested positive for the coronavirus while close contacts would only receive calls in certain priority settings.

“Because not everyone who is identified as a close contact should expect a call from a public health representative for now, we have worked to offer easy-to-understand information available to help people know what to expect and what they should do,” said State Health Officer Alexia Harrist in the press release. “We believe our follow up efforts, which we worked on together with our dedicated county partners, helped slow and limit the spread of the virus for many months.”

As of November 9, Wyoming had a total of 172 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 with Memorial Hospital of Carbon County reporting one hospitalization on the Wyoming Department of Health website.

Public health officials continue to encourage common-sense steps such as washing hands often and well, covering coughs and sneezes, cleaning and disinfecting surfaces and objects that may be contaminated with germs and wearing face coverings and masks in public places.