While visitor traffic has been building in Yellowstone National Park, park employees and staff so far seem to have been able to avoid contracting Covid-19, according to the latest testing.

Last week 179 employees from the National Park Service and concession companies operating in the park were tested by Park County (Montana) health officials, and all tests came back negative. During the past ten days 222 employees have been tested, and testing is expected to continue for the foreseeable future.

“I want to thank the states of Wyoming and Montana and our county health officials for partnering with us to increase surveillance testing capacity,” said Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly. “This proactive testing is the only way for us to detect cases early and respond quickly to any employees who have the virus.”

As introduced in the park’s reopening plan, this surveillance testing will continue throughout the summer and target employees who are first responders and/or work directly with the public. More information about the surveillance testing effort is available in the park’s news release from June 4.  

Additionally, the park sampled wastewater systems in Gardiner, Mammoth Hot Springs, and Old Faithful between May 18-26. Lab results indicated no prevalence of COVID-19 in those systems during those time frames. Additional samples will be taken on June 13 and 15, which will give the park a better idea of COVID-19 increases due to reopening.

Through the first ten days of June the park saw nearly 80,000 visitors, which is roughly 54 percent of normal for this time of year.