State approves COVID variances

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
The efforts of the Weston County commissioners to obtain variances for COVID-19 public health orders have finally paid off. After Niobrara County, Weston County is the second county in the state to have all county wide variances approved, according to the Wyoming Department of Health dashboard. Niobrara also is the first county to report zero cases of the disease since October.
Alexia Harrist, the state health officer, signed all four variance requests submitted by the county on Jan. 25, according to County Clerk Becky Hadlock. Each variance addresses different aspects of the public health orders, including the mask mandate and restrictions on the size of gatherings. Each one also states that Weston County schools are not included in the variances. 
“While these exemptions relax the mandates for our county, we sincerely ask that we remember to heed whatever precautions are needed to stay safe and keep our vulnerable citizens protected. We also need to remember that if a private business chooses to maintain the mask mandate, it is their prerogative to do such and honor their wishes,” Chairman Marty Ertman said in a statement. “We are grateful to the Wyoming Department of Health, and especially Dr. Alexia Harrist, Wyoming State Health Officer. Her kindness and willingness to help us through this process is greatly appreciated.”
The commission had regularly submitted requests, despite the constant disapproval of Dr. Mike Jording, the former county health officer, and Harrist. The county removed Jording as health officer earlier this month, leaving Harrist as the only hurdle to approval of the variances. 
Previously, both Harrist and Jording had cited that the variances were “wide-ranging and lacked consideration for the possible effects on transmission rates of COVID-19 infection in Weston County” as their reason for denying the county’s requests. 
With cases of the disease continuing to drop in Weston County, Harrist said, the county had met requirements for variance approval. 
“The situation with COVID-19 in the county is much improved and was for more than two weeks,” Harrist told the News Letter Journal in a Jan. 25 email. 
Currently, according to the Wyoming Department of Health’s county metrics, Weston County is in the dark green, the lowest level, for both test percentage positivity and active cases. The other category analyzed by the
state, the number of cases per 100,000, has Weston County in the yellow, which is the middle of the spectrum. 
In order to qualify for the dark green zone, counties must have fewer than eight cases per 100,000, less than a 3% positivity rate for the previous 14 days, have five or fewer active cases and have no outbreaks in skilled nursing or assisted living facilities. 
The matrix reports Weston County as having a zero percentage positivity rate and only one active lab-confirmed case in the past 14 days. 
With a case rate of 58 (cases per 100,000), according to the department of health, the county is sitting in the yellow zone (20 to 100 cases per 100,000). 
Ertman reported that the variances will be reviewed when the state reviews statewide health orders. At that time, the state will determine if Weston County’s COVID-19 situation is good enough to extend the variances.