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Yellowstone National Park Sees First COVID-19 Cases Since Reopening

Yellowstone National Park's north entrance by Gardiner, Montana, May 16, 2019.
Rachel Cramer
/
Yellowstone Public Radio
Yellowstone National Park's north entrance

Two people who work at Yellowstone National Park and three visitors recently tested positive for COVID-19.

Yellowstone officials said on July 28 two concession employees have been in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19. These are the first confirmed cases out of the nearly 2,000 people who have worked in the park over the past two months.

Yellowstone says the first employee likely contracted the illness caused by the coronavirus while out of the park. Health officials who followed up with contact tracing said the employee had limited interactions with other people.

Several employees are in quarantine after potential exposure to the second confirmed case.

Yellowstone concentrated its surveillance testing the week of July 20 in and around the area where the employee with COVID-19 worked.

None of the thousand tests from the last eight weeks have yielded positive results.

Three separate visitors also tested positive after being in the park. The press release said it’s likely at least two of the visitors had the virus before coming to Yellowstone.

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