CASPER, Wyo. — Three Wyoming counties are now mandating that face coverings be worn in some public settings to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Albany County’s mask mandate went into effect Friday.
Laramie County’s mandate went into effect earlier this week and a mandate has been in effect in Teton County for months.
A majority of the state’s residents would support an indoor mask mandate, a survey conducted by the University of Wyoming’s Wyoming Survey and Analysis Center (WYSAC) on Nov. 2 found.
“Over 60 percent of Wyomingites now say they would strongly or somewhat support an ordinance requiring people in their community to wear face masks when visiting indoor public places,” WYSAC said in a Friday, Nov. 6 release. “Thirty percent say they strongly or somewhat oppose such an ordinance.”
The survey also found that 69% of Wyomingites “say they always or often wear face protection when in indoor public places. While this amounts to more than two-thirds of the Wyoming population who report wearing a mask in indoor public spaces all or most of the time, Senior Research Scientist Brian Harnisch said in the WYSAC release that “other research has shown that this number is still likely the lowest in the nation.”
19% said they rarely or never wear masks, a decrease of 5% since an October WYSAC survey. More Wyomingites consider COVID-19 to be a “real threat.”
“Those who describe COVID-19 as a ‘real threat’ stand at 53 percent, up 6 points from October, while 39 percent say it is ‘blown out of proportion,’ down 6 points,” WYSAC said.
Wyoming has been seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases since around the middle of September. As of Sept. 15, the Wyoming Department of Health had reported a total of 3,762 laboratory confirmed COVID cases since the start of the pandemic.
In less than two months, that number has jumped to 12,954 total lab confirmed cases, an addition of 9,192 cases. There have also been 2,455 total probable cases since the start of the pandemic.
As of Thursday, 4,679 total confirmed and probable cases remain active in Wyoming, according to the WDH. COVID-19 hospitalizations have also been climbing in Wyoming. There were 27 COVID-19 patients in hospitals across the state as of Oct. 1.
That has since climbed to 134 as of Thursday, Nov. 5, with a record 138 COVID-19 patients in Wyoming hospitals reported by the WDH on Wednesday.
WYSAC has been conducting surveys of Wyoming residents since the spring. They said on Friday that anxiety levels reported by Wyomingites are returning to levels not seen since the pandemic arrived in the state.
“Anxiety about the spread of COVID-19 in Wyoming has returned to levels not seen since March,” Harnisch said.
The November survey found that nearly half of Wyomingites are “very or fairly anxious about the spread of COVID-19 in the state, an increase of 8 percentage points from October and an increase of 15 percentage points from September.”
WYSAC added: “Another 24 percent say they are somewhat anxious about the spread in Wyoming. Just over 30 percent of Wyoming residents say they are not at all anxious about the spread in Wyoming, a decrease of 11 percentage points since October.”
44% of Wyomingites surveyed said “the worst is yet to come in the United States.” 50% said “the worst is yet to come here in Wyoming — an increase of 11 percentage points since October and 21 percentage points since September.”
WYSAC summarized other findings of the November survey as follows:
— Over a third, 38 percent, of Wyomingites say they are very or somewhat unlikely to get a vaccine for COVID-19 if one becomes available.
— Of those who say they are very or somewhat unlikely to get a vaccine for COVID-19, 70 percent cite a concern about potential side-effects as a major reason. Over half say that a major reason is that they do not think they need it, while 59 percent say a major reason they are unlikely to get the vaccine is they would like to see how well it works first.
— Almost half, 45 percent, of Wyomingites report that they have already received the flu vaccine for this season, while one-third of residents say they are somewhat or very unlikely to get the flu vaccine this year.
— Approval of the way Gov. Mark Gordon is handling the COVID-19 crisis remained steady, with 60 percent saying they strongly approve or somewhat approve of the way he is handling things. His net approval rating is at plus 24 points.
— A majority, 65 percent, say they trust the information they hear from the governor about COVID-19 a great deal or a good amount.
— Approval of the way President Donald Trump is handling the COVID-19 has remained steady, with 54 percent saying they strongly approve or somewhat approve of the way he is handling things. President Trump’s net approval rating is at plus 10.3 points.
— Less than half (47 percent) of Wyoming residents say they trust the information they hear from Trump about COVID-19 a great deal or a good amount.
— Just over a third, 34 percent, of Wyomingites say they trust the information they hear from Joe Biden about COVID-19 a great deal or a good amount.
— A large majority, 70 percent, say they trust the information they hear from their local government officials about COVID-19 a great deal or a good amount.
— Approval of the way Congress is handling the COVID-19 crisis remains low, with just 21 percent saying they strongly approve or somewhat approve of the way Congress is handling things, resulting in a net approval rating of minus 51 points.
WYSAC
WYSAC has conducted 10 surveys to gauge public opinion on topics related to the COVID-19 pandemic since the spring. 465 Wyoming residents participated in the November survey, including residents from each county.
WYSAC notes that the margin of error in the survey is plu or minus 4.5 percentage points.
“To see the survey methodology, chart, figures and complete survey results, go to https://wysac.uwyo.edu/wysac/reports/View/6708,” the release adds.
