Record growth in new coronavirus cases pushes active cases over 500

By The Wyoming News Exchange

The number of active coronavirus cases in Wyoming went back up over 500 on Friday as the state saw a record number of new laboratory-confirmed cases.

The Wyoming Department of Health, in its daily coronavirus update, said 67 new laboratory-confirmed cases were reported in 14 counties.

The increase pushed the number of active cases in the state up by 24 to 514 despite an increase of 40 in the number of people to recover from the coronavirus since it was first seen in the state in March.

As of Friday, Fremont County had 95 active cases; Carbon County had 68; Laramie County had 67; Washakie had 42; Park had 39; Campbell had 33; Teton had 31; Albany had 28; Natrona had 22; Goshen had 21; Sweetwater and Uinta had 19; Sheridan had 15; Lincoln had six; Hot Springs and Johnson had three, and Crook, Platte and Sublette counties had one.

Big Horn, Converse, Niobrara and Weston counties had no active 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 active cases involved 444 people with laboratory-confirmed cases and 70 people with probable cases.

Probable cases are defined as those where a patient has coronavirus symptoms and has been in contact with someone with a confirmed case, but has not been tested for the illness. The number of probable cases seen in Wyoming since the pandemic began was reduced by three on Friday to total 489.

The increase in the number of laboratory-confirmed cases brought the number of those cases seen in Wyoming since mid-March to 2,694.

Recoveries seen since mid-March, meanwhile, increased by 40 on Friday, to bring the total recoveries to 2,641, including 2,222 among people with confirmed cases of coronavirus and 419 people with probable cases.