Omicron heading towards peak

A little later than the rest of the nation, Wyoming now appears to be on the upward swing towards the peak of its Omicron wave. But while infection rates are high and the number of known cases is rising, hospitalizations have not increased as much as during the Delta wave and deaths from COVID-19 are relatively low.

On Friday, the state reported its highest number of new cases in a single day at any time during the pandemic, with 1875 new infections added to the list. This broke a record that had only been set two days beforehand, when 1592 new cases were reported.

The increase is believed to be driven by Omicron. Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) spokesperson Kim Deti told the Casper Star-Tribune that the newest variant of concern is accounting for almost 100% of new cases in this state.

The rise in case numbers has happened fast. A week ago, on January 18, the WDH shared data that showed the number of active cases had increased by 2213 over the holiday weekend, which pushed the total above 5000 for the first time in more than a year.

By Friday, the number of active cases had increased by almost another 3000, leaving Wyoming with a total of 8088 known active infections.

On Monday, Crook County had 68 known active cases of COVID-19. Like the rest of the state, this county’s infection rate has risen fast: just a couple of weeks ago, on January 14, there were only 29 known active cases.

However, deaths have remained relatively low in Wyoming despite the new surge. Last week, just 13 new deaths were reported by the WDH, bringing the overall total to 1601.

Hospitalizations have also not risen to the levels seen during the Delta wave. On Monday, 124 people in Wyoming were reported to be in hospital due to COVID-19, which is half the record set on October 22, 2021 of 248 hospitalizations.

On Monday, Crook County Memorial Hospital reported two inpatients with COVID-19.

International data suggests the peak may arrive swiftly and the decline could be just as fast, because Omicron has been observed to follow a pattern: cases rise quickly, the peak arrives fast and infections then begin to decline.

This was first seen in South Africa, where the variant was detected. In the UK, which was one of the first countries to see cases of Omicron arrive, national infection rates have now begun to drop.