BY JULIE DOCKSTADER HEAPS

The four currently confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Lincoln County were not the result of “community transmission,” Star Valley Health CEO Bren Lowe told SVI Media this week.

“All of those cases [which are within Star Valley] came from outside the valley,” Lowe told SVI’s Duke Dance during an audio interview for this week’s broadcast of Health Topics Tuesday. “So those individuals were either working or traveling to another county and picked [the virus] up. None of those cases were transmitted from person to person within the valley.”

The first confirmed case within Star Valley was on Thursday, April 2. Since then, three more cases have been confirmed, and as of midnight, April 7, that number remained at four, according to the Wyoming Department of Health, Infectious Disease Epidemiology Unit. The total number of reported cases in Wyoming also remained at 212.

But again, Lowe emphasized, “there’s no evidence that [the virus has] been transmitted within the community, so a person who brought it to the valley did not transmit it to another person in the valley.”

Continuing, Lowe explained that not everyone with symptoms would be tested, given short supplies and the “lab reach at this time. The state lab has criteria for who gets tested, and that’s based on risk factors, age and high-risk conditions and if they’re a critical infrastructure worker.

“So those who are symptomatic if healthy in large part would be asked to isolate at home rather than get tested.”

However, Lowe urged anyone with questions or who may have symptoms to call the COVID-19 live support hotline at 307-885-5008 to discuss symptoms and status with a nurse.

As the public follows mitigation strategies the “curve” for confirmed cases will hopefully be reduced, Lowe said. Although there can’t be certainty with projections, he added: “Based on public health officials and what we’re seeing for the cases in Wyoming, we’re supposed to peak for a number of cases at the very end of April or the beginning of May. It’s not likely to peak until we get through the month of April.

“But since we now have cases in the valley, those mitigation strategies of social distancing, the new CDC (Center for Disease Control) guidelines that came out yesterday about wearing a mask in public; those are even more important, because we really do not want community transmission or spread.”

In fact, Lowe related, the only real control “we have currently is to make sure we’re following those mitigation strategies” in light of the progression of the disease – taking just 2 ½ months to go from Wuhan, China, to Star Valley, Wyoming.

“So it’s really important to wash your hands, social distance, wear your mask in public and to reduce your travel or exposure within the valley.”

When Dance gave a “shout-out” to the staff at Star Valley Health, Lowe replied, “I can’t applaud them enough for the work they are doing to make sure we are prepared to care for this community.”

For up-to-date information on COVID-19, follow SVI Media at svinews.com and on the new SVI Media app, or listen to the SVI Radio Network. Also go to health.wyo.gov.