August COVID-19 cases, deaths, trends in Yellowstone County COVID-19 fuel September concerns | Local News
“Our hospitals have been quite full,” Felton said. “They don’t have to turn anyone away. They’ve not had to close or anything like that.”
Capacity remains to care for patients and Felton said they want to ensure that people who need health care aside from COVID-19 continue to get it because the capacity remains to provide that.
Neighboring counties are also affecting hospital capacity in Yellowstone County, Felton said. Neighboring Big Horn County has 158 active cases and Rosebud County has 176. Those totals are the fourth and second-highest in the state.
Felton has previously said that local hospitals service an area with a population of about 650,000 people that includes parts of Wyoming, North Dakota and South Dakota.
Testing, case investigation and contact tracing
Symptomatic testing remains “aggressive” in the county, but limits on asymptomatic and surveillance testing continue to be a challenge, Felton said.
Surveillance testing remains ongoing at long-term care facilities and also for patients preparing for procedures at local hospitals. Of the roughly 2,500 pre-procedure hospital patients tested recently, about 50 people have been positive, Felton said.
While the county sees few issues with collecting the test specimens, several factors have continued to slowing the return of results, what he referred to as throughput capacity.
