Teton County requests continued mask order
Statewide mask order to be lifted March 16th
by Pinedale Online!
March 15, 2021
Teton County’s public health officer has requested a local mask order to allow them to keep a mask order in place after Wyoming’s state-wide mask order is lifted on Tuesday, March 16th. Citing an increase in the number of positive COVID-19 cases in the county, Teton District Health Officer Dr. Travis Riddell requested a local health order to allow Teton County to keep the mask requirement in place. Dr. Riddell’s request was approved on March 12, 2021, and the new local mask order will go into effect on March 16, 2021. It is effective through April 16, 2021. The county has seen several cases of the new COVID-19 variants and has had their county risk level move up into the orange (moderate) level recently due to the number of new positive cases in the county.
Teton County has had 3,427 confirmed positive and probable cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, with 9 deaths in the county. They had 84 active cases in the county as of March 12th. They have a 97% recovery rate for the disease. Teton County has a population of 24,464 (2019), plus they experience millions of visitors every year move through the area because of the two adjacent national parks (Yellowstone and Grand Teton) and their having a commercial airport. The county’s confirmed cases have been overwhelmingly in the 19-39 age range. Early on in the pandemic, the county requested a county-wide mask mandate before the state-wide mandate went into effect in an effort to help protect local businesses and services.
The community has been very concerned to protect and not overwhelm the capability of the local hospital to service the medical needs of the community during the COVID-19 pandemic. As of March 10th, St. John’s Health latest numbers report they currently have two COVID-19 patients, and have 56% beds occupied and 33% ICU beds occupied. Over the course of the pandemic they have had 246 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients. They have just recently begun to loosen up their visitation restrictions for patients after many months of quarantine from outside visitors.
By comparison, Sublette County (population 9880, 2019), adjacent just to the south of Teton County, has had 681 lab-confirmed and probable cases and 7 reported COVID-19 related deaths. The majority of the people getting sick are under age 18 and in the 30-59 age group. Sublette County has a 99% recovery rate from the disease.
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