Cheyenne health officials: Event could worsen COVID-19 spike

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - Health officials worry an event in Wyoming's capital city last weekend could worsen a spike in coronavirus cases.

The Cheyenne area went weeks with few new cases. Then on Monday, city officials announced 15 new cases, most of them people between 20 and 30.

Despite being announced Monday, the cases preceded last weekend's "Summertime On the Streets" event that brought hundreds of people downtown.

Some went to Accomplice Beer Company, a microbrewery in the historic Union Pacific Depot where workers recently tested positive for COVID-19. The brewery shut down Monday for a sanitizing period and health investigation, owner Roy Sandoval told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

Workers at no fewer than three restaurants in Cheyenne have tested positive or otherwise likely have COVID-19, Cheyenne-Laramie County Health Department officials said.

The crowds at "Summertime in the Streets" raise concern the Cheyenne-area spike could worsen, department executive director Kathy Emmons said.

"It doesn't appear like a lot of people were wearing masks," Emmons said. "If people weren't practicing social distancing - which, from the pictures I saw, I didn't see that - that's going to most likely lead to increased numbers in the county."

Elsewhere in Wyoming, health officials blame lack of social distancing at bars in Evanston around Memorial Day for a spike approaching 100 active cases.

As of Tuesday, 1,230 people in Wyoming had tested positive for the coronavirus, including 299 active cases - the highest number to date. Twenty people have died.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.