Sweetwater County’s 1st COVID-19 patient recovered and back to work
April 3, 2020
Sweetwater County reports that while Wyoming’s case count ranks among the smallest in the U.S., the state’s per capita total outpaces more than a dozen other states. Wyoming remains the only state without a known death of a coronavirus patient.
The first confirmed positive Sweetwater County patient is now fully recovered and has returned to work. The second confirmed positive patient remains in quarantine in good condition with only mild symptoms treatable from home. The third confirmed positive patient, a young child, also remains in good condition with only mild symptoms treatable from home.
Castle Rock Medical Center reported they have collected a total of 30 COVID-19 tests with 1 returned positive, 21 returned negative and 8 pending results.
If you live in Sweetwater County and think you have been exposed to COVID-19, and develop a fever and symptoms, such as cough or difficulty breathing, call Castle Rock Medical Center at (307) 872-4590 for medical advice. Health officials strongly request patients do not travel to Castle Rock Medical Center in person without first calling so they can prepare appropriately.
Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County reported as of Tuesday, April 2nd they have collected 231 COVID-19 tests with 2 returned positive, 159 returned negative and 70 pending results.
If you have a temperature of 100F or greater or a cough, call your provider or Sweetwater County Memorial’s Nurse Triage Line at 307-522-8523. If you have signs of a serious or life-threatening health issue, go to the Emergency Room.
Here are a list of frequently asked questions, to date, about current EOC operations:
What contingency plans are in place in the event MHSC is overwhelmed with COVID patients?
Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County is actively working with both Aspen Medical Center and Castle Rock Medical Center not only to address potential overflow from COVID-19 patients but also for regular and ongoing patient care needs.
What other locations are being considered?
Western Wyoming Community College has offered one of their dormitory buildings as a possible alternative treatment or housing facility. The EOC continues to work together with our local healthcare providers to identify other existing facilities suitable for varying levels of triage and/or treatment. We are fortunate to have a number of different potential alternatives in our community to include, for example, the Events Complex, the Wyoming National Guard armory and a variety of privately owned and operated community health and/or medical clinics.
What is being done to prepare those locations for use now?
We are coordinating the development and execution of several different memoranda of understanding (MOU) between a number of different organizations and facilities to ensure everything is in place as potential needs present themself.
Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County already has an existing MOU with Aspen Medical Center to address potential patient overflow issues, which predates the COVID-19 crisis.
We are also working to define various "trigger points" for the activation of these facilities and planning for the labor, equipment and supplies needed to seamlessly and expeditiously achieve these transitions.
What is being done to locate additional ventilators, if needed?
There is already a supply chain in place that allows Sweetwater County Emergency Management and Sweetwater County Public Health, in coordination with their counterpart agencies in state government, to receive critical equipment and supplies from the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS).
To date, during this crisis and through these preexisting processes, Sweetwater County has already received a bulk shipment of PPE from the SNS and will soon receive a bulk shipment of hand sanitizer. These supplies are then distributed locally by Emergency Management and County Public Health.
What is being done to identify additional medical personnel, if needed?
One of our biggest priorities is to preserve our workforce by avoiding any exposures or infections to our medical and healthcare professionals and our emergency first responders including emergency medical services, law enforcement, fire, nurses, physicians, etc. Part and parcel to this priority, we have and continue to distribute and facilitate the distribution of critical PPE supplies to these groups to ensure they have the safety equipment they need to continue to safely do their jobs and serve the public during this crisis.
Some considerations we've made to bolster staff include drawing from other local providers as well as contacting reserve and/or recently retired personnel. However, as with additional supplies, the best way to address the need for additional personnel is to not need them by everyone doing their part to flatten the curve.
HERE’S WHAT TO EXPECT IF YOU TEST POSITIVE FOR COVID-19:
(1) You will be contacted by a public health authority to inform you of your positive result, identify persons you have been in close contact with (within 6 feet of for greater than 10 minutes), up to 2 days (48 hours) before your symptoms started, and to provide isolation recommendations.
(2) You will need to isolate yourself. Isolation means you stay at home except to get medical care and separate yourself from other people in your home as much as possible. You will be in isolation until at least 3 days (72 hours) have passed since you have had a fever and without the use of medications and improved respiratory symptoms AND at least 7 days have passed since your symptoms first appeared.
(3) The people identified as your close contacts will be informed that they will need to quarantine themselves. Quarantine means staying at home except to get medical care and monitoring for symptoms. These people will be in quarantine for 14 days since last contact with you. If one of these contacts develops symptoms they may be tested or may have to begin the isolation process themselves.
(4) - Throughout this time you will contacted daily by a public health authority, to check on you and your symptoms, provide education and assist you with contacting your doctor as needed.
You can find further information about protecting yourself and your household members at: https:// www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/steps-when-sick.html.
We continue to work together as a community to contain the spread of COVID-19 in this county, and the Sweetwater County COVID-19 Emergency Operations Center’s (EOC) primary goal remains to doing everything we can to keep the number of confirmed positive cases to as close to zero as possible here in Sweetwater County.
This requires a group effort from all of us. Social distancing means staying home as much as possible. ANYONE can spread the virus to another person. Effective social distancing demands we all observe these practices to help contain and prevent the spread of the virus. This virus impacts all of us, and is deadly for some. But, social distance can make a difference for the people you care about and for our local health care system on which all of us rely.
For the latest community updates regarding COVID-19 in Sweetwater County and information as it relates to the EOC, please visit our website at http://www.sweetwater311.org, our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/swccovid or dial 311 or (307) 212-5440.
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