April 24, 2020 |
You may be able to get a haircut a week from now, or even work out at the gym. Dining at a restaurant in Wyoming, though, may be off limits for another month or more.
With the current public health orders set to expire on April 30th, Governor Mark Gordon yesterday announced that he will begin easing the restrictions on business and social activities on May 1st.
The governor cautioned that the transition toward what he called the “new normal” will be slow and measured.
Barbershops, hair salons and gyms will be the first businesses to reopen with public safety modifications in some areas of the state. Elective medical procedures at clinics and hospitals can resume under some circumstances during the first stage of the transition.
The governor painted only a broad outline of the transition, and said more details about which counties will be able to adopt variances and what opening requirements will be for select businesses would come next week.
How to reopen eating and drinking establishments is still under review, the governor said.
The loosening of the public health restrictions, which have been in place since March 19th, will be driven by data.
Governor Gordon presented a chart with six metrics that public state and county health officials will use to measure progress and guide decision-making. The chart tracks two basic areas: Trends of coronavirus cases and hospital capacity. Most of the sub-categories in the two main sections were shown to be “stabilizing.” Only two metrics were listed as “concerning.” These were the percent of new cases attributed to community spread and the number of cases reported by hospitals.
Charting as stable were the number of new cases and the percentage of positive tests, as well as hospital capacity.
To date, less than four percent of all tests conducted in the state since the start of the outbreak have come back positive. The rate of deaths with some kind of virus-related vector is 1.5 percent of known cases.
Officials have said since the beginning that the actual number of cases is higher than reported so the actual death rate is likely lower. The governor said health officials will use metrics collected from around the state to guide the speed of the transition.
The state public health officer echoed that sentiment. Doctor Alexia Harrist said that moving forward too quickly could upend the work that has been done for the last six weeks to contain the virus in Wyoming, making the crisis worse for both hospitals and businesses.
Harrist added that social distancing remains critical for the foreseeable future. She said face masks will continue to be important for employees and customers of stores that are open, but they are not a substitute for keeping a six-foot distance between people.
Although, businesses may begin to open in the next few weeks, schools will continue to operate under the guidance issued by the state department of health issued last month.
