While the current COVID-19 situation in Park County continues to improve, the death count from the recent surge in infections continues to rise.

On Tuesday, the Wyoming Department of Health announced another 10 deaths in Park County that were caused by or related to COVID-19, with all but one of those people dying earlier this month.

Eight of the residents were over the age of 64, the department said, while only two had health conditions known as putting people at greater risk of serious illness from COVID-19.

Park County has now lost 98 residents to COVID-related deaths, coming among more than 5,340 confirmed and probable cases that have been logged here since March 2020.

Conditions have improved in recent weeks, with the number of people actively infected falling substantially. As of Wednesday, there were 83 people infected with the novel coronavirus and its variants, according to the Department of Health, down from 94 a week earlier.

Meanwhile, the number of people hospitalized with the disease effectively remained unchanged from week-to-week. As of Tuesday, there were 11 COVID patients in the county’s hospitals: six at Cody Regional Health and five at Powell Valley Healthcare.

Public health officials continue to offer and encourage vaccinations against the disease.

As of Monday, 11,937 Park County residents were fully vaccinated, according to state data, representing about 40.9% of the overall population. That was an increase of 150 people, but the county has now fallen behind the state of Wyoming’s overall vaccination rate, which stands at 41.2% of the population.

—By CJ Baker