CASPER — The number of people in Wyoming who were being hospitalized for COVID-19 treatment rose to 73 on Monday, a higher total than at any previous point in the pandemic.
Monday’s total is more than twice what it was when the month began and exceeded the previous high set Sunday.
Sixty-eight hospitalizations were reported to the state Monday, but the number did not include five patients hospitalized at Jackson’s St. Johns Health.
The new rash of hospitalizations mirror a surge of COVID-19 cases reported statewide since late September, when cases began ticking upward to a degree not yet seen in the state. Sunday was the first time reported hospitalizations exceeded 60.
October has been a record-setting month for COVID-19 cases in Wyoming. Early October marked the first time the state’s 10-day average of new confirmed cases exceeded 100 a day. In the first week of the month, the state was averaging about 105 cases. That average is now above 162 new cases daily.
New daily cases have also outpaced those in any previous time period since March. The state has exceeded previous highs four times in the month of October thus far. The state Friday reached an all-time record for new confirmed cases reported in a single day with 248.
Health officials have pointed to hospitalizations and new daily cases as key metrics when deciding how to respond to the virus’ spread, but hospitalizations are a delayed statistic.
Natrona County Health Officer Dr. Ghazi Ghanem Wednesday said current hospitalization numbers reflect COVID-19 spread from two weeks ago, as it can take up to 14 days for those exposed to the virus to exhibit symptoms of illness.
Virus cases were already surging two weeks ago, and in the last 14 days, 940 new confirmed cases have been reported.
The state’s largest hospital last Wednesday opened its COVID-19 surge unit for the first time. Wyoming Medical Center also activated its Code Orange Incident Command, bracing for an influx of patients. That designation establishes a number of special protocols and appoints a team at the hospital to evaluate daily concerns and communicate them with the rest of the medical center’s staff.
Wyoming Medical Center last week stopped accepting non emergent patients transferred from outside Natrona County. The facility often treats patients from outside of the community. Those patients are now being transferred out of state in most cases, the hospital’s interim CEO J.J. Bleicher said Wednesday.
The hospital’s Code Orange is still active, a spokesperson said Monday.
“We expect this to continue for several weeks, based on COVID projections in our community,” Wyoming Medical Center spokesperson Kristy Bleizeffer said via email Monday.
As of 8:30 a.m. Monday, the hospital had 135 patients, including 17 with COVID-19. Nine ICU beds were occupied Monday. When the hospital first declared a Code Orange Wednesday, it had reached near capacity with 149 total patients. Seventeen patients at that time were required to wait in the emergency room because of a lack of space elsewhere.
No hospital in the state reported full intensive care units to the Wyoming Department of Health on Monday, but numbers reported by individual hospitals, most of which have only a handful of ICU beds, have fluctuated daily.
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