Mother Governor, would you please act so we can be safe while COVID-19 rips through Wyoming?

“That’s essentially what a stay-at-home order is. Are you waiting for ‘Mother may I? Or are you taking care of yourself and practicing the common sense we expect?” — Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon at a Friday news conference to discuss his COVID-19 policies.

BY D. REED ECKHARDT

            It’s unclear why Gov. Mark Gordon continues to defend his refusal to put a stay-at-home order in place in the Cowboy State. But what is clear is that he is putting Wyomingites’ lives in jeopardy by refusing to do so.

            If his snippy comment quoted above is any indicator, he still does not understand why hundreds, maybe thousands, of Cowboy State residents are demanding that he take the necessary action of closing down the state. 

So let me explain, Mr. Governor.

            Those of us who want a stay-at-home order are not those who continue to run Wyoming’s streets and continue to expose

Wyoming’s COVID-19 hotspots. As of Sunday, the case total was 200.

themselves and others to the deadly COVID-19 virus. We don’t need to say “Mother may I?” because we already are staying at home, going out only to buy essential foods and to perform essential functions. We understand, and appreciate, your previous orders and are obeying them. We just don’t find them adequate.

            What we are worried about, Mr. Governor, is stopping the spread of this virus so that our healthcare workers can stay healthy, so that are our elderly residents can feel safe and so that we can prevent as many deaths of our friends, families and neighbors as possible.

            What all of us have learned in recent days is that this disease spreads unbelievably easily, and that it can be shared with others without those who are infected even knowing it. 
            That even includes casual conversations among friends and family, if they have the virus and get to close to one another. They can be sick and not even know it, in the meantime spreading it on every surface that they touch. They can carry it into grocery stores and gas stations and workplaces and medical facilities. Witness the assisted living center in Lander that has become a Wyoming hot spot for this disease.

            Mr. Governor, what we are asking for is not permission to stay home. We are asking that you take action, every action, to make certain that COVID-19 doesn’t come in our front doors as we hunker down. Right now, you are not doing everything possible to protect us and our elderly parents and grandparents, and that simply is not acceptable. 

It also is not acceptable, by the way, for you to mock those of us who continue to speak up about your lack of action. You work for us, not the other way around.

            Last week during your news conference, you said, “One of our Wyoming values is to talk less and say more. Our Wyoming orders talk less and say more.”

            Indeed they do. What they say is that while their governor is asking Wyomingites to stay home, his request is not so serious that he will act to enforce it. It also says that there is something — no one is certain what it is outside of the Governor’s Office — that is more important than taking the toughest action possible to protect residents’ lives. Red State politics? Fear of not being re-elected? Bowing before the altar of the economy? Only you know, Mr. Governor, and you are not saying.

            Regardless, your lack of a firm, enforceable order says it is OK for people who think this is no more serious than an cold or the regular flu to go about their daily lives and endanger others. And they are doing so, slowing the flattening of the curve and eventually putting greater pressure on the state’s healthcare system. (Fact check: COVID-19 is at least 10 times more deadly than the standard flu and much more contagious).           

Yes, Mr. Governor, you make it clear that you don’t think other states’ stay-at-home orders are any more powerful than your current orders. But their loopholes — if there are loopholes, a point I am not conceding — are no excuse for your inaction.

Rather than complaining about how weak their orders are, how about creating the firmest one that can be fashioned, putting it in place and enforcing it? THAT will tell the world how serious you are. And perhaps Wyoming can set a standard for fighting the virus.

Mr. Governor, I know you have seen the chart (https://bit.ly/3bH0fsT). It indicates that you either can act to dampen the effects of COVID-19 or turn it loose to create

greater havoc both in terms of death and in the negative impacts upon the state’s healthcare system.

The potential number of deaths range from 74 to 271. What number do you find acceptable? And how do you explain to your family, friends and neighbors why their son, daughter, mother, father or grandparent died when, perhaps, the virus that caught them could have been avoided by better controlling its spread?

As they say out on the ranches of our great state: It’s nut-cutting time. Your actions now will — or won’t — save lives. So, Mother Governor, may my friends, family and I please feel safer and know that COVID-19 won’t come knocking at our door?

D. Reed Eckhardt is the former executive editor of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.