News
COVID-19 case numbers/ SMH left in compromising position
Sheridan County has added 12 lab confirmed cases over the last 24 hours. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Sheridan County has had 4,281 lab confirmed cases.
One probable case has been added in the last 24 hours to the now 1,302 probable cases the county has experienced since the pandemic began.
Currently, 122 cases are active in the Sheridan County community.
According to COVID-19 Public Information Officer Jennifer Graves, four patients have recovered in the last 24 hours.
Seventeen patients are hospitalized battling the virus and 52 Sheridan County residents have lost their lives to the virus.
During a meeting with Sheridan Memorial leadership, Chief Executive Officer of the hospital Mike McCafferty told the public that although the number of cases ebbs and flows, the amount of patients that require hospitalization and the amount of time they need to recover appears to be increasing.
McCafferty also stated that the Biden Administration’s mandates are concerning. SMH leadership feels that the best way to prevent the spread of the virus is to follow the Centers for Disease Control Guidelines; social distance when possible, wash hands often, wear masks when indoors with others –especially those who may be vulnerable– and get vaccinated. But McCafferty also stated, SMH leadership believes medical care of any kind is a personal choice.
Sheridan Memorial has not implemented a vaccine mandate for their staff which, as of last week, stands at approximately 60% vaccinated. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Emergency Temporary Standard to Protect Healthcare Workers from COVID-19 requires 100% of medical and senior care facility staff to be vaccinated or risk losing Medicare and Medicaid funding. This places the hospital in a compromising position.
SMH staff have endured long hours, little sleep, stress, residents angered by long waits due to overcrowding, as well as residents telling them COVID-19 isn’t real even as staff witness the deaths of Sheridan residents from the virus. Now, a percentage of healthcare workers across the nation face possibly quitting or losing their jobs or compromising their personal beliefs. Healthcare workers are getting hammered from both sides, with no relief coming in the form of federal help of any kind in the mandates.
According to McCafferty, eighteen months ago the support for hospital staff and healthcare workers was outstanding. Residents prepared meals, ensured they took precautions when entering the hospital and made efforts to thank them in appreciation. That support has wavered as residents experience COVID-19 exhaustion and in many cases, take out frustrations on SMH staff.
McCafferty said healthcare workers and staff at SMH will not engage in political discussions regarding COVID-19; if it’s real or not real. Instead, McCafferty told the public that staff will continue to do what they have always done, leave politics at the door and care for people to the best of their ability.
The CDC lists Sheridan County’s level of community transmission as HIGH.
More COVID-19 information is available at www.sheridancounty.com/covid-19/.
Mark Steingass
November 13, 2021 at 6:55 pm
give the unvaccinated employees an optional bonus to get vaccinated before the end of 2021….send the bill to governor gordon
Sam Grover
November 13, 2021 at 7:03 pm
Here’s the magic bullet that nobody wants to hear….stop accepting patients from outside the county..or stop complaining about how exhausted you are. My kids are exhausted f I’m wearing masks all day because these idiots keep importing Covid into the community. Enough.
Olivia Cupant
November 14, 2021 at 10:42 am
Everything that’s wrong with Sheridan, with Wyoming, and with this country in one article.
To those who want to “support” healthcare workers, I say get vaccinated, stop going to big indoor events, wear a mask, stay home as much as possible, and stop your endless whining about all of this. Did you all flunk kindergarten or what?
To those who say “healthcare is a personal decision,” I ask what about abortion and birth control? Those are extremely personal decisions that the anti-mask crowd thinks should be under government control.
The level of hypocrisy and the lack of anything close to linear, critical thinking in this country are astonishing. But what would anyone expect from those who are so easily led as to have elected a conman for president and then to believe that four years later somehow the entire American electoral system is faulty.