Uncategorized

***For All Things Wyoming, Sign-Up For Our Daily Newsletter***

By Jennifer Kocher, Cowboy State Daily

Despite being one of the country’s foremost energy producers, Wyoming ranks near the top of the list when it comes to the states with the most expensive energy. 

This has nothing to do with electricity consumption, natural gas use or even the rapidly escalating gas and diesel prices at the pump this summer. Rather, it’s the one thing residents can’t do anything about: long driving distances.

For the third year in a row, Wyoming ranks first in the nation when it comes to the highest motor-fuel consumption per driver and second for the most expensive energy costs, with an average cost of $403 per month, according to a 2021 WalletHub survey.

The survey compared the average monthly energy bills of residents in all 50 states and the District of Columbia based on the average monthly consumption and cost of electricity, natural gas, home heating oil, average gas price and the miles traveled for the average driver.

Connecticut had the highest average energy costs, followed in second by Wyoming and Massachusetts in third place. Wyoming also came in second in 2019, though fared better in 2020, placing seventh, according to past years’ surveys.

Not surprisingly, the Cowboy State also topped the list for the most money spent per month on fuel at $246 per month. Conversely, the state ranked 36th for the cheapest electricity at an average of $115 per month. 

Alabama ranked first for high electricity costs at $181 per month, while the most expensive monthly natural gas bill was found in New York at $68, compared to $41 in Wyoming.

As for fueling up vehicles, the worst place to do this is in California, Hawaii and Nevada, which had the highest motor-fuel prices, respectively, according to the survey.

***For All Things Wyoming, Sign-Up For Our Daily Newsletter***

***For All Things Wyoming, Sign-Up For Our Daily Newsletter***

By Jim Hicks, columnist

“This is August weather!”  That’s the comment we heard from under a sweat stained ball cap at the feed store this week. After Monday and Tuesday’s temperatures in the triple digits, there were not too many of those “climate change deniers” giving speeches.

But at least it waited until the kids were out of school and on summer vacation.  The city pool is full and looked pretty inviting.

And baseball season is underway with a lot of local kids taking part.  Years ago there was not much in the way of youth baseball activities offered here. School got out and a lot of the kids headed for the ranch to start the summer’s work. 

But there were some years when an American Legion baseball team would be organized to compete.

And sometimes Buffalo would be blest with good young athletes who could play the game well enough to compete with teams from larger communities like Sheridan.

The Bench Sitters remember a team like that.  They didn’t have the full roster of players, but do recall Jack Swartz (who operated the airport here at that time) was coaching.

Some of the players included (and we hope we got this right) were Tony Swartz (pitching), Craig “Goose” Jones on first, Greg Smith on second, Richard Lawrence playing short-stop, Tom Ahern on third base and Ray Mader, catching. 

They were a pretty scrappy team, but almost nobody left in the dugout when they took the field. 

A little thin in the ranks.

In one game against Sheridan the competition was close.

It was a hot day and Buffalo had gone though everyone who had ever pitched.

But there was another inning to play.

They huddled with Coach Swartz to come up with a solution.

“How about having Mader give it a try?”

Now Ray (as anyone who knew him) could throw a ball HARD!

When a runner tried to steal second and Ray got ready to fire one for the “tag” several things would happen.  First the pitcher would dive and hide behind the mound and the center fielder would be ready in case the throw was a bit high.

So they made the decision and Ray took the mound for a few “warm-up” pitches.

And then he hit the next seven Sheridan batters. A few left the game.

Finally, Sheridan’s third base coach asked Tom Ahern a question.

“Is that relief pitcher’s dad a doctor?”

“No,” says Tom with a sideway’s glance. “Why did you think that?”

“Well it looks like he’s drumming up business for someone in the medical field.”

Meanwhile, after several days of hot dry wind, locals are watching the snow rapidly disappear from the tops of the peaks and green replaced by shades of tan in the hills.

Dry years can generate some interesting comments. A few we’ve heard were:

“It looks like one of those years we have to decide if we want to buy hay or sell cows.”

“This is the kind of year irrigators don’t get their feet wet.”

“The boy is only six years old. Until last year he thought hay always came on a truck.”

“So then I got the bright idea of fertilizing our dry-land hay.”

Finally this week we heard a couple of young mothers talking about a wisdom they have picked up by listening to their kids so far this summer.

“You can’t baptize cats.

“When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don’t let her brush your hair.

“Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato.

“You can’t trust dogs to watch your food.

“Don’t sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.

“Don’t hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time.

“You can’t hide broccoli in a glass of milk.

“The best place to be when you’re sad is Grandma’s lap.”

Stay cool, if you can, and we’ll write again next week.

***For All Things Wyoming, Sign-Up For Our Daily Newsletter***

***For All Things Wyoming, Sign-Up For Our Daily Newsletter***

By Jennifer Kocher, Cowboy State Daily

Talayna Duran has not received the COVID-19 vaccine nor has she given it much thought. The 18-year-old Gillette resident and recent graduate from Thunder Basin High School has started to put the pandemic behind her. 

The last couple months of school saw mask requirements and other restrictions relaxed, and now, she’s not sure if she plans to get vaccinated.

“I don’t have anything against it,” she said with a shrug last Sunday from behind the reception desk at All Dimensions Fitness. “I mean, I would do it if needed or my job required it.”

Phillip Losinski was equally nonplussed about his plans to potentially get vaccinated. The 61-year-old Gillette resident said he’s a bit dubious about the conflicting data coming from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in general and said he’d like to wait for another six months to see if any new information arises with regard to vaccinations.

“I’d like to do a bit more research,” he said, noting that he believes he had COVID in February 2020, before the illness was officially recognized, and thinks that gives him natural antibodies against the virus. “I’d like to give it at least another six months to see if there are any negative side effects.”

Others, however, like 22-year-old Jacob Dalby have no interest in ever being vaccinated. Dalby, who questions many of the CDC guidelines and science supporting them, pointed to the stated 

98.54% survival rate for COVID-19 versus the 94% 95% efficacy rate of the vaccines in preventing the virus. 

He also questioned the safety of the vaccines and the fact that they were rushed to market under the Emergency Care Act on top of the blanket immunity granted to the pharmaceutical companies under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act in 1986 to protect the companies from lawsuits in the event of adverse reactions.

All factors considered, Dalby said that neither he nor members of his family plan to get the vaccine, including his grandmother who is currently undergoing treatment for cancer.

These are common attitudes in Campbell County, which has the lowest vaccination rate in the state. According to the Wyoming Department of Health, only 16.66% of residents have been vaccinated, followed by 17.67% in Crook County. Conversely, Teton County has the highest number of vaccinations at over 54%.

The relatively low vaccination rate has prompted Campbell County to launch a COVID-19 vaccination campaign to build confidence in the vaccine and prompt residents to get vaccinated, according to Ivy Castleberry, public information officer for Campbell County Public Health.

Ideally, the county would like to achieve a 70% vaccination rate, Castleberry said by email Tuesday, in order to achieve community immunity.

She also noted that while the county county may be lagging when it comes too vaccinating the lower-risk population groups age 12 and older, it has seen vaccinations administered to almost 60% of the higher risk population in the county age 65 and older, with an average of 400 to 500 people getting vaccinated through CCPH each week.

“We would certainly like to see vaccination rates pick up again,” she said.

The county is still in the process of developing the campaign, Castleberry noted, and she couldn’t say whether or not it will involve similar incentives to those seen in other cities and states, most notably Colorado’s $1 Million COVID Vaccine Drawing.

Health Department spokeswoman Kim Deti said the department is disappointed with the vaccination rates seen in Wyoming.

As of June 8, WDH has recorded administering 371,213 shots of the 459,535 COVID-19 vaccines doses it has received, including 222,495 of the Pfizer, 208,740 Modern and 28,300 of the single-dose Janssen vaccine, per WDH data, for a total vaccination rate of just less than 29.5%.

WDH is already running a significant multimedia marketing campaign promoting the vaccines, Deti said, but has not yet discussed offering potential incentives.

“We want everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated,” she said. “The vaccines are doing their job very well.”

Deti noted that the majority of new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are occurring among those who have not been vaccinated.

She added the WDH would like to see the vaccination rate increase, although she refrained from providing a target goal. 

“There is no question we would like to see a much higher coverage percentage,” Deti said. “Without vaccination the risk of illness could remain for people and that’s what we’re focused on avoiding. So if our coverage rates remain low the risk for illnesses in Wyoming continues and that is disappointing.”

She cited issues such as the politicization of the vaccine and the relatively low level of new cases in recent weeks as threats affecting public’s perception of the need for vaccination.

“With schools and most businesses open, it may be harder for some people to see the personal need for vaccination,” Deti said.

For Dalby, it’s a lost cause, he said, reiterating his plan to not get the COVID-19 vaccination despite attempts to market it as safe and effective. To him, it’s just another misuse of taxpayer dollars that could otherwise be better spent. 

“I got the shot for the swine flu back in 2010 but got it anyway,” he said. “I don’t see any reason to do that again. And you know what they say? If the government tells you to do something, you should do the exact opposite.”

***For All Things Wyoming, Sign-Up For Our Daily Newsletter***

***For All Things Wyoming, Sign-Up For Our Daily Newsletter***

By Tim Mandese, Cowboy State Daily.

Wyoming’s active coronavirus cases increased by four on Friday from Thursday.

Wyoming Department of Health figures showed that the department received reports of 77 new recoveries among those with confirmed or probable cases.

At the same time, the state reported 70 new laboratory-confirmed and 10 new probable cases, leaving Wyoming with 531 active cases.

Laramie County continued to have the highest number of active cases at 144; Sweetwater had 84; Campbell 64; Natrona 38; Uinta 34; Albany and Sheridan 26; Fremont and Park 24; Platte 19; Teton nine; Big Horn and Johnson seven; Carbon, Goshen and Sublette four; Crook and Weston three; Converse and Lincoln two, and Hot Springs, Niobrara and Washakie had one.

Active cases are determined by adding the total confirmed and probable coronavirus cases diagnosed since the illness first surfaced in Wyoming on March 12, 2020, subtracting the number of recoveries during the same period among patients with both confirmed and probable cases and taking into account the number of deaths attributed to the illness.

The new confirmed and probable cases brought to 60,623 the number of people diagnosed with coronavirus since the first case was detected in Wyoming in March 2020.

Of those, 59,372 have recovered.

***For All Things Wyoming, Sign-Up For Our Daily Newsletter***

***For All Things Wyoming, Sign-Up For Our Daily Newsletter***

By The Center Square, Cowboy State Daily

Wyomingites are among the most reluctant populations in the nation to take the COVID-19 vaccine. That has prompted talk of incentive programs, while some say the reasons are mostly political.

About 28% of state residents have been fully vaccinated, while about 35% have received at least the first shot.

An updated report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services puts 16 Wyoming counties as the most hesitant in the nation.

JJ Chen, incoming president of the Wyoming Medical Society, said hesitancy tends to fall along political lines.

“I think what may be unique in Wyoming is that we are staunchly entrenched along political lines, and unfortunately I think whether to or not to get the vaccine has really taken on an unnecessarily political line,” Chen told The Center Square.

This bears out in the stats as Teton County, one of the few counties to elect Democrats to the state legislature, is also the most vaccinated.

Former Republican President Donald Trump championed vaccines as a means to stop the virus. Trump’s administration was responsible for the vast majority of the planning accelerating vaccine development, according to former head of Operation Warp Speed Moncef Slaoui.

What would really convince Wyomingites to get off the fence is trust, according to Chen. Local figures who are trusted in their communities could sway public opinion by proclaiming the vaccines are safe.

“If you go to church and you hear your pastor tell you, ‘Hey, this vaccine is safe. I just got it. I’m doing fine. Some people may have some side effects, but you know the vast overwhelming majority of people who get the vaccine will be much better off than if they didn’t get it,’… if they heard those kind of words from a trusted individual, I think the barriers to getting vaccinated would be far less,” Chen said.

So far, none of the vaccines are fully FDA-approved. They are approved for emergency use. Chen admitted vaccine fear is legitimate considering how new it is, but Chen likens these vaccines to those developed for polio and smallpox asserting public health improved when those inoculations were accepted.

***For All Things Wyoming, Sign-Up For Our Daily Newsletter***

***For All Things Wyoming, Sign-Up For Our Daily Newsletter***

By Tim Mandese, Cowboy State Daily

With recoveries leading the way, Wyoming’s active coronavirus cases increased by 73 on Wednesday from Monday.

Wyoming Department of Health figures showed that the department received reports of 80 new recoveries among those with confirmed or probable cases in two days.

At the same time, the state reported 120 new laboratory-confirmed and 34 new probable cases, leaving Wyoming with 524 active cases.

Laramie County reported the most active cases with 99; Albany and Sweetwater had 68; Campbell 62; Natrona 54; Park 33; Uinta 28; Sheridan 23; Fremont 22; Teton 14; Platte nine; Goshen eight; Carbon seven; Washakie six; Big Horn five; Lincoln four; Crook and Sublette three; Converse, Johnson and Niobrara two, and Hot Springs, and Weston had the least number of active cases, with one.

Active cases are determined by adding the total confirmed and probable coronavirus cases diagnosed since the illness first surfaced in Wyoming on March 12, 2020, subtracting the number of recoveries during the same period among patients with both confirmed and probable cases and taking into account the number of deaths attributed to the illness.

The new confirmed and probable cases brought to 59,376 the number of people diagnosed with coronavirus since the first case was detected in Wyoming in March 2020.

Of those, 58,139 have recovered.

***For All Things Wyoming, Sign-Up For Our Daily Newsletter***