The number of people sick with coronavirus posted another significant drop on Monday, falling by almost 14% as the state reported 116 new recoveries.
However, the figures were released as the state Department of Health announced four more Wyoming residents — one from Natrona County and three from Sheridan County — had died as a result of the illness, bringing the state’s total of deaths related to coronavirus to 46.
The department, in a news release, said the Natrona County resident was an older woman with health conditions that put her at greater risk of complications from coronavirus. She had not been hospitalized.
The Sheridan County victims included an older man with high-risk health conditions who had been hospitalized for coronavirus treatment and another older man who also had underlying health conditions who had not been hospitalized.
The third Sheridan County resident was an older woman who contracted the virus at an out-of-state long-term care facility where she was receiving care.
Meanwhile, the state reported that the number of active cases of coronavirus dropped by 73 to total 463 on Monday, with 15 counties reporting declines in active cases. Carbon County’s active case total dropped by 23, while Laramie County’s dropped by 20.
The decline was largely due to an increase of 116 in recoveries among people with both laboratory-confirmed and probable coronavirus cases.
Albany County had 87 active cases; Natrona County had 68; Fremont County had 57; Laramie had 50; Sheridan had 43; Teton had 31; Converse had 22; Campbell had 18; Park had 17; Goshen had 15; Lincoln had 10; Crook had nine; Carbon, Sweetwater, Uinta and Weston had five; Sublette had four; Big Horn, Platte and Washakie had three; Johnson had two, and Hot Springs had one.
The active cases were among 383 patients with laboratory-confirmed cases and 80 patients with probable cases.
Active cases are determined by adding the total confirmed and probable coronavirus cases diagnosed since the illness first surfaced in Wyoming on March 12, subtracting the number of recoveries during the same period among patients with both confirmed and probable cases and taking into account the number of deaths attributed to the illness.
The decline came despite an increase in confirmed cases of 44 on Monday. The Health Department said 12 counties reported new lab-confirmed cases: Albany, Campbell, Converse, Crook, Fremont, Goshen, Laramie, Natrona, Platte, Sheridan, Teton and Uinta. Albany County saw the biggest increase in cases at 16.
The increase brought to 3,723 the number of confirmed cases seen since the illness was first detected in Wyoming in March.
The number of probable cases seen since the pandemic began was set at 669 on Monday, an increase of two from Sunday.
Of the 4,392 people with either confirmed or probable cases, 3,883 have recovered, according to the Health Department, an increase of 116 from Sunday. Since Friday, when 171 recoveries were reported, the state has recorded 331 recoveries.
