100% success: No positives among pending Yellowstone COVID-19 testing

There were 43,019 reported cases of COVID-19 in the United States today, but none of them came from Yellowstone National Park, as NPS officials reported that all pending Yellowstone COVID-19 testing came back negative.

Yesterday we reported that the latest round of testing among Yellowstone National Park employees and concessionaire workers came back with no positives among the 346 tests administered in the past three weeks. The news: Of the 1,499 total tests conducted to date, 1,378 returned negative results, with 121 test results still pending.

Those pending results are now in, and the news is uniformly good: no positives among the pending. So for those keeping score at home, there have been 1,499 tests administered since early June (including 467 tests in the past three weeks), and all have come back negative.

In a previous round of testing, two Yellowstone concessionaire employees did test positive, but subsequently tested negative. Since then no positive tests have been recorded.

In addition, no visitors have tested positive in the last four weeks in any of Yellowstone’s medical clinics.

The lack of positive tests at a time when Yellowstone visitation is now higher than a year ago, despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the total collapse of international tourism, says a lot about how Yellowstone officials prepared for a safe reopening.

Photo of the North Entrance on June 26 by Jacob W. Frank, courtesy National Park Service.

RELATED STORIES: No new Yellowstone COVID-19 cases as of mid-July; First Yellowstone COVID-19 positive tests reported; Still no positive COVID-19 Yellowstone tests for employees; No positives in 2nd round of Yellowstone employee COVID-19 testing;No COVID-19 cases reported among Yellowstone employees; Xanterra announces new Yellowstone operating schedule for 2020; Yellowstone Montana gates to open June 1; Sholly: Limited 2020 Yellowstone opening a success; When will Yellowstone Montana gates open? Still in planning phases; What can you expect now that Yellowstone is open?; What will your Yellowstone 2020 vacation look like?; Jackson Lake Lodge, Jenny Lake Lodge won’t open in 2020; Grand Teton summer 2020 plans still to be determined; Yellowstone Forever delays park donations, furloughs staff; Don’t look for Yellowstone opening until late May–at the earliest; Yellowstone National Park closed indefinitely; Calls for a Yellowstone spring closure emerging; Xanterra Yellowstone lodges closed through May 21; First 2020 Yellowstone shutdowns due to coronavirus announced; TBD: Coronavirus Impacts on Yellowstone; Experts: Coronavirus Outbreak Could Impact 2020 Yellowstone Visitation