Wyoming is currently among nine other states refusing to issue a state-wide stay-at-home order.
As of April 15, there are 287 cases of COVID-19 in the state, with 605,390 cases in the entire US, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Wyoming Department of Health. Local stay-at-home issues can be and have been made, including that issued near Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, according to the Associated Press News (AP).
Governor Mark Gordon said there would be no stay-at-home order issued now or in the near future. Still, if it were issued, it would hold no exemptions, including those for domestic violence victims seeking refuge, that have been given in other local stay-at-home orders in Wyoming, according to AP.
Senator John Barrasso, for Wyoming, said a stay-at-home order was not needed for Wyoming due to how spread out the already low population state is, according to Wyoming Public Media. He stated the people of Wyoming have already been social distancing for years, so such an order is unnecessary, according to Buckrail.
Christine Porter, a public health professor at the University of Wyoming and Wyoming Excellence Chair in Community and Public Health, said that not issuing a stay-at-home order is dangerous, and will lead to people continuing to spread the virus in the state, according to Wyoming Public Media. This aligns with the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci’s endorsement of a country-wide stay-at-home order to lessen the growth of COVID-19 transmissions.
