According to data from the Natrona County School District (NCSD), the district has seen an increase in COVID-19 cases and quarantines from Sept. 11 to 24, compared to the first set of bi-weekly data that was released.

Cases among students have increased from 120 from Sept. 1 to 153 by Sept. 24, and from 26 to 29 among staff, while quarantines have also increased from 339 to 540 among students and 31 to 34 among staff.

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The largest number of cases comes from Natrona County High School, where 29 students have reported getting COVID-19, compared to 28 at Kelly Walsh High School and 15 at Dean Morgan Middle School.

Tanya Southerland, director of public relations for the NCSD, said those are all new COVID cases and quarantines and that they are following their Start of School Guidelines, while encouraging people to stay home when they are sick.

Southerland said she is unsure of whether the cases reported from Sept. 1 to Sept. 10 are still active, and Hailey Bloom, public information officer for the Casper-Natrona County Health Department, said they do not have enough staff to be able to track cases that came from specific places.

COVID cases in Natrona County have risen slightly since the beginning of September, with 223 new cases reported in the county on Sept. 1, 147 reported on Sept. 10, and 262 reported on Sept. 20, while the seven day average increased from 86 to 89 from Sept. 1 to Sept. 20.

Hospitalizations in the county have followed a similar pattern, with the number of COVID patients at the Wyoming Medical Center fluctuating from 39 at the beginning of September to a high of 48 on Sept. 8 and 17, back down to 38 by Sept. 24.

Currently in Wyoming, 48% of the population has received at least one dose of the vaccine, the second lowest behind Idaho, while 41.2% of the population is fully vaccinated, the second lowest in the country behind West Virginia.

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