COVID-19 daily briefing: April 13, 2020

As of 12 p.m., April 13, 2020 *

1. Wyoming: Confirmed cases of COVID-19: 275. Deaths: 1 — Recovered: 138.
2. By county: An elderly man in Johnson County has died, becoming Wyoming’s first coronavirus-related death, the Wyoming Department of Health reported. Laramie County leads the state with 60 confirmed cases, followed by Teton with 56, Fremont with 41, Natrona with 33 and Sheridan with 12. Campbell and Johnson counties now report 11 cases each. Two counties, Platte and Weston, have reported no cases. 
3. Testing: 5,571 tests had been administered and processed, according to the Wyoming Department of Health. Experts and officials agree testing numbers fall well short of the reality of the disease’s spread.
4. United States: 557,663 confirmed cases, according to the Johns Hopkins Institute. Total deaths: 22,116  — Total recoveries: 41,871.
5. The latest: Wyoming state government revenues could plummet anywhere from $555 million to nearly $2.8 billion over the next two years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and an oil price war, according to a memo the Legislative Service Office sent to lawmakers on April 10. The state’s  unemployment insurance fund, meanwhile, is the strongest in the nation, according to a Tax Foundation study. The study ranked Wyoming No. 1 in its ability to pay unemployment insurance, using statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of Labor. According to the study, Wyoming had enough money in its unemployment insurance trust fund at the beginning of 2020 to pay unemployment benefits for 321 weeks, based on claims filed by April 4. That’s compared to states like California, which had enough money to pay benefits for four weeks, or Texas, which had money to pay benefits for six weeks, according to the study. Nearly 5,000 people filed unemployment insurance claims last week alone, according to data provided by the Department of Workforce Services, the Casper Star-Tribune reports.
6. More news: More than 88% of Wyoming businesses that responded to a survey by the Wyoming Business Alliance anticipate revenue loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic. City officials in Cheyenne — and across Wyoming — are anticipating a major cut in sales tax revenues will make the budget process particularly challenging, according to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

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*This post was updated at noon to reflect new information from the Wyoming Department of Health. —ED.