What were we thinking?
Laramie Reporter looks back at the opinions shared by Albany County community members at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic
It’s been a year since COVID-19 was first detected in Wyoming. This time last year, the state, like the country, started locking down. In the months since, the virus has killed 1 out of every 1000 Wyoming residents. As the Casper Star Tribune reports, Albany County had the lowest deaths-per-capita of any county in the state, despite once hosting the greatest number of confirmed cases.
In March 2020, Wyoming looked out at an uncertain future. Though the virus was raging in other countries, few had a clear picture of what the remainder of 2020 would bring to America.
In Laramie, the dawning reality of the pandemic threat can be seen in letters to the editor sent during the month of March. The Laramie Boomerang groups its letters to the editor in weekly online posts, releasing them every Sunday, as those same letters are collected in the print edition.
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By March 8, the pandemic was slowly spreading in the United States. It was likely already in the state of Wyoming, though it would not be detected for another three days.
In the Laramie Boomerang’s letters on that day, there is no mention of the coming storm. Laramie and Albany County residents were continuing to use the paper’s opinion page to discuss ongoing local issues. There’s a lengthy letter defending the Rail Tie Wind Project, an even lengthier response to a religious column from the previous week, and a short note asking how the University of Wyoming’s Athletics Hall of Fame failed to find a single female athlete worthy of praise. The March 8 letters included an impressive piece of amateur journalism by Dan McCrackin, finding that a fuel station in Albany County was, in fact, meeting state requirements. Patricia McDaniel wrote a scathing letter attacking the “paternalistic fraternity” of the Wyoming Legislature. “Being a bright forward-thinking young person remaining in Wyoming is like moving back home with your dad who gives you a curfew at age 30 and decides who you can date,” she wrote. Most of the issues in these letters are still in play today. Debate surrounding the Rail Tie Wind Project has intensified, and the Legislature is one again meeting as the state looks ahead to economic uncertainty. But a vast new issue was on the horizon.
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By March 15, the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 had been detected in Wyoming and Gov. Mark Gordon had declared a state of emergency. While the Boomerang’s letters on that day still include discussion of ongoing local affairs — including two letters regarding the Rail Tie, complaints about parking or hit-and-runs and suggestions for the next legislative session — the coronavirus had started to inspire local comment. Specifically, political figures weighed in on the situation. Lawrence Struempf wrote that we were at the beginning of a “pandemic apocalypse” even if we didn’t realize it yet. “COVID-19 is like a baseball coming at you in slow motion, you can see every detail as it gets closer and closer. It seems like it is going to hit you in the face, yet it has yet to strike.” Struempf suggested encouraging students not to travel (Spring Break had just started) and to otherwise prepare in the way other countries like Italy, South Korea and Iran were not able to. “I believe we need to get ahead of the curve and slow this ball before it hits us in our face,” he wrote.
Then-Senator Mike Enzi also encouraged taking precautions, although his focus was on individual actions. Enzi urged everyone to wash their hands, social distance and stay home when they feel sick. The senator also touted the action Congress had taken at that point, passing an $8 billion bill to combat the coronavirus. The bill aided states in increasing their testing capacity — something that was sorely lacking and needed at the outset of the pandemic. That nationwide $8 billion sounds a quaint amount next to the trillion-dollar bills that have been passed since. Wyoming alone received $1.25 billion through the CARES Act, and Wyoming businesses received at least another $1 billion through the Paycheck Protection Program. Additional money is coming from the latest $1.9 trillion stimulus recently passed. There was a sense in these early days, at least among lay people, that the COVID-19 situation would blow over in a few weeks or months, and that far from requiring the largest stimulus bills in U.S. history, might be managed by individual responsibility and adherence to public health guidelines. Additionally, the pandemic had yet to become a heavily polarized issue.
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By March 22, life was noticeably different for many people in Wyoming. Anger and frustration began to set in. Events were cancelled. University of Wyoming went completely virtual, as did Albany County School District No. 1.
In a few days, the U.S. would hit its 1000th death and begin to lead the planet in most confirmed cases. On the opinion page of the Laramie Boomerang, several wrote in about the pandemic. Evelyn Hill called for solidarity. “Please consider creating very small groups of friends to look after each other if the virus hits our town hard,” she wrote. “Consider including single people especially, and older ones as well.” Meanwhile, Lonnie Brickle suggested boosting one’s immune system with diet and exercise, and Joe Smith called on the university to further reduce staff presence on campus. Others were concerned with the mob behavior they had observed in their community. Darcy Gardiner, Janna Urschel and Ellie Boothe all wrote letters decrying “hoarding” that had left grocery store shelves empty of cleaning supplies and other essentials.
Francis William Bessler, 78, recommended monitoring oneself for symptoms while following the advice of experts. But Bessler’s number one recommendation was this: “Don’t lose a sense of humor. Make a little fun of yourself. That is what I try to do – and it seems to always help.”
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On March 29, Francis William Bessler wrote in again, this time with a graver outlook. “Of course, many of us will not survive COVID-19, but death does come to us all,” he wrote. “I do believe it is good to keep that in mind. We will all go, be it via a COVID-19 or whatever.” Bessler added that it was important to put community health above one’s own comfort or desires.
“I am committed to pay attention to the rules of the health experts and refrain from communal gatherings until such time that this COVID-19 has passed,” he wrote. “If we all do that, we can get through this crisis so much better than if we insist on ‘our way’ — whatever that way is.” Bessler added that we can also learn from this virus and this outbreak and better deal with or avoid similar situations in the future.
Bessler’s is the only unique pandemic-related letter to the editor in the Boomerang’s March 29 collection. It seems that alongside the simmering sense of doom many were feeling around the end of March, life and its other issues carried on. The paper also reprinted Darcy Gardiner’s letter about hoarding from the week before, and included the next installment in a back-and-forth squabble over the merits of Fox News and CNN.
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