March 15, 2022 |
More than two years after Wyoming’s Covid-related public health emergency went into effect with the stroke of a pen; it came to an end yesterday the same way. Governor Mark Gordon signed an executive order.
Pictured above: File photo of mask requirement sign.
The governor issued the “Declaration of State Emergency and a Public Health Emergency” on March 11, 2020 as the COVID scare swept the United States. It was a Wednesday. The first case of the then unusual respiratory disease had been confirmed in Wyoming. By Friday, then President Donald Trump declared a national emergency. On Sunday, March 15th, Governor Mark Gordon ordered that K-12 schools in Wyoming should close through April 3rd. In rapid succession through a series of proclamations and executive orders, Americans found themselves living in an Official State of Emergency.
Each state approached the situation differently. Some governors exerted iron-fisted control over the healthy while sending Covid-infected patients to nursing homes. Others took measured approaches. Some states still operate with more restrictions than Wyoming ever endured at the height of the pandemic.
Wyoming went into something close to a lockdown for nearly two months in 2020. Some businesses, including restaurants, gyms and hairdressers, could not open at all for several weeks. As restrictions eased, restaurants could offer carry-out and then under strictly regulated seating arrangements. Church services were cancelled, even at Easter. “Social distancing” became the catch-phrase. Isolation and fear became the reality.
Slowly over the six months following Easter, Wyoming’s public health orders were eased. Some counties operated under stricter rules than others. Some individuals ignored the orders as much as they could. Under the terms of the original executive order, the emergency could only be rescinded by the governor.
Yesterday, Governor Gordon signed Executive Order 2202-03: “Executive Order Rescinding Declaration Of A State Of Emergency And Public Health Emergency.” The EO is effective immediately.
Bigfoot 99 yesterday asked the governor to evaluate how Wyoming handled the crisis compared to other states and what lessons were learned. Gordon gave the state an above average grade.
The governor also praised the rapid development of the mRNA technology as the medical response to the virus. Although like everything associated with governmental response to the virus, the “vaccines” themselves—both their effectiveness and potential harm to some—remain controversial.
In addition to the EO rescinding the state of emergency, Governor Gordon yesterday signed a second order aimed at helping nursing shortages around Wyoming. EO 2022 allows nurses and nursing assistants licensed in other jurisdictions to provide nursing care in Wyoming in order to address staffing shortages.
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