Fremont County Coroner Mark Stratmoen shared his office’s monthly update at the Fremont County Commissioners’ meeting yesterday, February 11th.
Mark noted the number of coroner cases are down by 7 compared to this same time last year. As of February 10th, there have been a total of 11 coroner cases so far in 2020. There were 18 at the same time last year.
For the month of January 2020, there were 8 natural deaths, 1 accidental, and 1 pending case waiting on autopsy results.
Mark also shared the following information about public health concerns during his report yesterday:
As has been publicized in the recent media reports, the CDC and Dept. of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has declared a Public Health Emergency regarding the Coronavirus. Under DHHS and the National Disaster Medical Service (NDMS) are the DMATs (medical) and DMORTs (fatality) specialty teams, and Chief Deputy Ivie is a member of DMORT as a medical-legal investigator. Due to the need for personnel trained and experienced in the use of PPEs (personal protective equipment) and mass events to staff the multiple receiving and quarantine areas established at numerous military bases for incoming evacuees from the Far East, Deputy Ivie was requested for an ‘atypical’ deployment. She is stationed at Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio, Texas until the end of February to work this event.
While we in Wyoming tend to believe we are isolated from such events, it is important to remember that with air travel these days, any communicable disease can move from one area to anywhere on the planet within 48-72 hours under the right circumstances. The experience gained by Deputy Ivie, in this case, will be beneficial for Fremont County in this or any similar even, should things escalate.
Keep in mind that as a matter of perspective, the yearly flu continues to be a higher danger and concern locally, with one confirmed Type A fatality here so far this year from our office, and an average of thousands of flu-related deaths nationally each year. It is good to see the proactive response on Corona nationally, and locally all relevant agencies continue to monitor the situation under our pandemic preparedness procedures.
Wyoming Department of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website links to Coronavirus tracking are shared below:
Wyoming Department of Health website – Novel Coronavirus
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website – Novel Coronavirus