Active coronavirus cases in Wyoming have fallen by almost 60% in the last two weeks, according to an analysis of Wyoming Department of Health figures.
Since peaking at 11,861 active cases on Nov. 24, the number of people still suffering from confirmed or probable cases of coronavirus has declined steadily to total 4,974 as of Wednesday, a drop of 6,887 — 56%.
The Health Department, however, declined to identify the trend as a reason for optimism.
“We would caution against reading too much into numbers on a short-term basis,” department spokeswoman Kim Deti said in an email to Cowboy State Daily.
In addition, the department remains concerned about a potential resurgence in the numbers, Deti said.
The decline can be traced to large numbers of reported recoveries among patients with either confirmed or probable coronavirus cases.
When the number of active cases peaked on Nov. 24, the number of recoveries seen since the illness was first detected in Wyoming in mid-March stood at 17,896. Since then, the number has increased by more than 14,000 — 82% — to total 32,612 on Wednesday.
The declines in active cases have been seen across the state.
On Nov. 24, three counties — Albany, Campbell and Laramie — had more than 1,000 active cases and one — Natrona — had more than 2,000, leading the state in active cases at 2,634.
As of Wednesday, only one county still had more than 1,000 active cases — Laramie at 1,114. Natrona County’s number of active cases on Wednesday was 957.
Ten counties had fewer than 100 active cases on Wednesday, Johnson, Converse, Carbon, Big Horn, Sublette, Platte, Crook, Weston, Hot Springs and Niobrara.
Niobrara County had the lowest number of active cases in the state at 17 on Wednesday, compared to 52 on Nov. 24.
