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Since the start of the pandemic, some Wyoming residents and business owners have indicated that state officials, especially the Governor and the state health officer, had a heavy handed approach to health orders.
While much was made of the state s economic losses, the pandemic had a devastating financial impact on the rest of Wyoming as well. Numbers are still being sorted out, but David Bullard, who s a senior economist with the research and planning section of the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services said that new numbers show that, in the first month of the pandemic, over 24 thousand jobs were lost.
The pandemic has brought the public health industry into the limelight. Public health officials and employees have been politicized, emotionally abused and threatened by the public. And for an industry that is not used to this, employees are getting burned out. Wyoming Public Radio s Kamila Kudelska has more.
The pandemic impact on mental health has been felt by many, from adults to children. But for college students, that may include the entire reshaping of what they thought their college experience would be like. Wyoming Public Radio s Catherine Wheeler spoke with psychologist and Assistant Director of the University of Wyoming s Counseling Center Julio Brionez on how students are faring during the pandemic.
The Wyoming Department of Health is looking for input on how it will approach the next four-year state plan on aging. The state's plan on aging looks at
Credit Wyoming Department of Health
For the past month, two COVID-19 vaccines have been available in Wyoming and there have been two priority groups that the Department of Health designated.
The first were health care providers and law enforcement. The second included those over the age of 70, correctional staff and funeral service practitioners.
But now Wyoming state health officer Dr. Alexia Harrist said they have expanded the second priority group. Priority 1b group now includes individuals aged 65 or older. It also includes individuals with underlying medical conditions that might make them at higher risk for severe illness or death from COVID, said Harrist. And it continues to include those frontline essential workers who are really essential for our health and safety in Wyoming.
Credit Wyoming Department of Health
Campbell County Health (CCH) has added a new unit to handle the increase in patients needing to be hospitalized.
The unit will have 10 additional beds for non-COVID patients and the hospital is working on establishing another additional unit to handle the needs caused by continually increasing COVID-19 hospitalizations. That s [the number of additional in-patient beds] kind of getting close to almost double our normal capacity, Chief Nursing Officer Misty Robertson said.
Robertson said because of the additional patients they are taking on the most pressing concern is the stress this is putting on staffing numbers. This can be caused from staff either contracting COVID-19 or having to quarantine from exposures. Campbell County Health is already receiving staffing help from the Wyoming National Guard, traveling nurses and a federal team Gov. Mark Gordon sent.