By The Wyoming News Exchange

The deaths of another 23 Wyoming residents have been linked to the coronavirus, the Wyoming Department of Health reported Monday.

The department said deaths were recorded in 16 counties, including Niobrara County, which means that every county in the state has seen at least one death related to the illness. The deaths brought to 280 the number of Wyoming residents whose deaths have been linked to coronavirus.

However, at the same time, the number of active coronavirus cases in the state continued to decline, dropping by 687 on Monday.

The department said the latest reported deaths occurred between November and early December and most of the victims had underlying health conditions known to put patients at a higher risk of complications from coronavirus.

Five Laramie County residents were among those who died, three men and two women. All were hospitalized for treatment of coronavirus.

Other victims included three Fremont County residents, two Big Horn County residents, two Lincoln County residents, two Natrona County residents and two Washakie County residents. Carbon, Niobrara, Park, Sheridan, Sublette, Sweetwater and Uinta counties each reported one death.

The news came as the Department of Health’s daily coronavirus update showed a continuing decline in the number of active cases in the state, thanks largely to new reports of 1,332 recoveries among patients with either confirmed or probable coronavirus cases.

The department said the recovery numbers exceeded an increase of 635 seen in confirmed cases around the state and an increase of 33 in the number of probable cases.

The numbers left the state with 5,717 active cases, a decline of 687 from Sunday.

Natrona County had 1,153 confirmed cases Monday; Laramie County had 1,136; Campbell County reported 591; Fremont and Sweetwater had 370; Albany had 294; Goshen had 244; Park had 195; Washakie had 193; Uinta had 191; Sheridan had 142; Teton had 137; Lincoln had 113; Johnson had 101; Sublette had 88; Carbon had 70; Converse had 69; Big Horn had 68; Platte had 57; Weston had 44; Hot Springs had 36; Crook had 31, and Niobrara had 24.

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.

New confirmed cases were reported in every county in the state Monday. Laramie County had the highest number of new cases at 123, while Natrona County had 112.

The increase in confirmed cases brought the total number of such cases seen since the first case was confirmed in Wyoming in mid-March to 32,196.

The growth of 33 new probable cases brought to 4,789 the number of probable cases seen since the pandemic began to 4,789. A probable case is one where the patient has coronavirus symptoms and has been in contact with someone with a confirmed case but has not been tested for the illness.

The increase in recoveries brought the total number of people to recover from confirmed and probable cases to 30,998.