Better late than never, mandate is a good call

There is a lot of criticism that can be laid to Gov. Mark Gordon’s management of the COVID-19 pandemic, the largest of which was his steadfast refusal to tighten statewide restrictions in the face of a huge spike in COVID-19 infections.

Last week, finally, he reversed course and issued a statewide mask and facial covering mandate.

In Sweetwater County, more than 2,400 residents have contracted COVID-19, with a large percentage of that number being as recent as last month. So far, 16 people have died as a result of complications from the disease and the illness has caused several millions of dollars in economic damages to all manner of businesses in Sweetwater County. Those damages don’t simply come from early closures or the mass shutdown we experienced earlier this year. That amount comes from people who could not show up for work due to being quarantined after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19.

Gov. Gordon has since received a heavy amount of criticism from the far-right, including members of the Wyoming Legislature and the Wyoming GOP. However, the fact of the matter is, something had to be done or Wyoming’s economy would suffer further from inaction. While we’re disappointed to see it take nearly two months for him to do something aside from expressing disappointment with raising COVID-19 infection numbers, we’re happy to see he’s doing something to curb infections.

We realize a lot of people disagree with the idea of the state issuing a mask mandate, claiming it violates their civil liberties and the like and refuse to do it. It’s time to set aside those petty arguments.

We need to do what’s best for the state and our county. We should do everything in our power to ensure we keep loss of life and economic impacts caused by this pandemic to a minimum. If we want the quality of life we’ve become accustomed to in Sweetwater County, we need to take this seriously.

Putting a piece of cloth in front of our faces until this pandemic is over seems a small request to make.