Lander Councilman: ‘I’ve Seen It With My Own Eyes And It’s Real’
A Lander City Council member on Sunday offered a stark dispatch from the hospital there as the new coronavirus continues to spread.
After touring SageWest Healthcare, Lander City Councilman Cade Maestas said the hospital is working to expand its capacity, "Which they are going to need."
"When this all started, they had four isolation rooms," Maestas said on Facebook. "The hospital has expanded that to 12, and they are all full. They're working on expanding it to 20 this week and have a lot more possible capacity.
"For all the people that think they know better, for the doubters, for the conspiracy theorists, I tell you I've seen it with my own eyes and it's real."
In his initial post, Maestas included that he saw four family members who were on ventilators. The youngest was 28 and had no underlying health conditions. Maestas removed that portion of the post in an edit.
Meanwhile, the Northern Arapaho Tribe announced that SageWest — which has hospitals in Lander and Riverton —are making significant changes to their operations in light of COVID-19.
As of Friday night, workers have dedicated the entire medical-surgery floor of the SageWest facility in Lander to COVID-19 patients. Additionally, all patients hospitalized with ailments that aren't COVID-19 will be sent to Riverton.
"If you are severely ill or injured and it's not related to your respiratory system, then you may save yourself time and trouble by going to the Riverton Hospital initially rather than the Lander Hospital," the tribe said.
Lander was among the first Wyoming communities to be hit by coronavirus. Many of the cases there are linked to a retirement facility there.
As of Sunday afternoon, there have been 197 reported coronavirus cases in Wyoming with 50 reported recoveries. Wyoming remains the only state with no deaths from COVID-19.