Teton County recommends masks indoors for all

JACKSON, Wyo. (KIFI) – The Teton County Health Department encourages all residents, workers and visitors to wear masks in public indoor settings, regardless of vaccination status.

This recommendation is based on new guidance provided by the Wyoming Department of Health (WDH), which follows the CDC’s change to mask wearing recommendations for fully vaccinated individuals that occurred on July 27, 2021.

The WDH recommends all individuals, no matter their vaccination status, wear masks in public indoor settings if they are in counties experiencing high levels of transmission. High transmission is defined as being in Yellow, Orang, or Red Zones, based on the WDH County Transmission Indicators. These Indicators will be updated weekly on the
WDH website. Based on both the CDC’s and WDH’s metrics looking at transmission rates, Teton County is an area with a high level of transmission. This indicates the need for Teton County Health Department (TCHD) to recommend
mask wearing indoors.

According to metrics tracked by TCHD, Teton County’s overall COVID risk level remains in Yellow, or Low Risk. On a weekly basis, TCHD evaluates eight different metrics that make up the overall COVID risk level. Transmission metrics are included to determine Teton County’s overall COVID risk, and current TCHD data aligns with the high rates reported by the CDC and WDH. The breakdown of TCHD metrics can be found HERE.

Teton County continues to see a rise in COVID-19 cases and last week had its first confirmed case of the Delta Variant, from genetic sequencing from a positive PCR test.

Teton County Health Department recommends for people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, to stay home when sick and to test. Testing is the only way to ensure you do not have COVID-19. To see testing, vaccination and other local COVID-19 information click HERE.