With the COVID-19 Coronavirus now shutting down Wyoming businesses by order of Governor Mark Gordon, residents and business owners were left asking questions about who was included and who was not.

This question was answered by a four-page document released by Dr. Alexia Harrist, Wyoming Health Officer. Below are the specifics from that order.

ORDER
The following places of public accommodation are ordered closed to ingress, egress, use, and occupancy by members of the public:
a. Restaurants, food courts, cafes, coffeehouses, and other similar places of public
accommodation offering food or beverage for on-premises consumption;
b. Bars, taverns, brew pubs, breweries, microbreweries, distillery pubs, wineries,
tasting rooms, special licensees, clubs, and other places of public accommodation offering alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption;
c. Cigar bars;
d. Gymnasiums; and
e. Movie and performance theaters, opera houses, concert halls, and music halls.
The following conditions apply to places of public accommodation subject to this Order:
a. Places of public accommodation are encouraged to offer food and beverage
using delivery service, window service, walk-up service, drive-through service, or drive-up service, and to use precautions in doing so to mitigate the potential transmission of COVID-19, including social distancing. Online and telephonic credit card transactions are strongly encouraged (e.g. Venmo, Squarecash, Googlepay, Apple Pay and similar payment apps).
b. Staff who handle cash or credit cards may not be involved in the preparation,
handling, or delivery of food.
C. In offering food or beverage, a place of public accommodation may permit up
to five members of the public at one time in the place of public accommodation for the purpose of picking up their food or beverage orders, so long as those individuals are at least six feet apart from one another while on premises.
d. For hotel restaurants, food items may only be delivered as room service or as
described above.
e. Management shall ensure, on a daily basis, that no employee who presents
symptoms of illness will be permitted to work.

For clarity, this Order does not apply to any of the following:
a. Places of public accommodation that offer food and beverage not for on
premises consumption, including grocery stores, markets, retail stores that offer food, convenience stores, pharmacies, drug stores, and food pantries;
b. Room service in hotels;
c. Health care facilities, residential care facilities, congregate care facilities, and
juvenile justice facilities;
d. Crisis shelters or similar institutions;
e. Airport concessionaires; and
f. Any emergency facilities necessary for the response to the events surrounding
the public health emergency and state of emergency caused by COVID-19.

All child care centers and home daycares are ordered closed, subject to the following:
a. Child care centers or home daycares that provide care for children of essential
personnel may continue to operate to provide child care for children of essential personnel. Essential personnel includes:
i. Staff and providers of childcare and education services, including
custodial and kitchen staff and other support staff, who do not do their work remotely;
ii. Providers of healthcare including, but not limited to, employees of
clinics, hospitals, nursing homes, long-term care and post-acute care facilities, respite houses, designated agencies, emergency medical services, as well as necessary custodial, kitchen, administrative, and other support staff;
iii. Criminal justice personnel including those in law enforcement, courts,
and correctional services;
iv. Public health employees;
v. Firefighters, Wyoming National Guard personnel called to duty for
responding to COVID-19, and other first responders;
vi. State employees determined to be essential for response to the COVID
19 crisis;
vii. Active duty military staff;
viii. Pharmacy staff;
ix. Foster families with children through grade 8;
2-1-1 and 9-1-1 call center staff; critical infrastructure and utility workers, including electrical, plumbing, telecommunications, water, and wastewater operators, workers, and staff;
xi. State, municipal, and commercial public works and sanitation crews;
xii. Grocery and food supply workers;
xiii. Supply chain, postal, and delivery drivers and warehouse workers;
xiv. Manufacturers of medical devices, equipment, testing equipment, and
supplies;
xv. and fuel distribution workers.
b. In circumstances where a child care center or home daycare remains open, the
center or home is required to have fewer than 10 people in a room or together at any time, including for meals or recreation.
c. Further, a child care center or home daycare that remains open is required to
follow all health guidelines from the CDC and Wyoming Department of Health for limiting the risk of transmission of COVID-19, to the extent possible when caring for children.
d. As childcare is a critical part of the infrastructure of Wyoming, allowing
essential systems to function, in the event a county health officer wants to close a childcare facility under the direction and supervision of the State Health Officer, the County Health Officer shall work with local childcare providers to make available limited childcare services for essential personnel, as described above.
5.
All K-12 schools shall dismiss students until no sooner than April 3, 2020, to the extent any school in Wyoming has not already done so. Administrative staff and teachers may continue to work in school buildings to facilitate distance learning or to complete administrative tasks. Food may still be prepared to be made available to those in need, as directed by school superintendents. Classes may still be offered online at the discretion of the school.
All colleges, universities, and trade schools shall not hold in person classes until no sooner than April 3, 2020. Administrative staff and teachers may continue to work in facility buildings to facilitate distance learning or to complete administrative tasks. Food may still be prepared to be made available to those in need. Classes may still be offered online at the discretion of the college, university or trade school.
This Order supersedes all previous individual county orders authorized by the Wyoming State Health Officer under Wyoming Statute $ 35-1-240(a)(iv). To the extent the county order is more restrictive, the more restrictive provisions still apply.
8.
Exceptions to the public accommodation sections above (paragraphs 1-3) may be granted, at the discretion of the County Health Officer, under the direction and supervision of the State Health Officer, if the business can demonstrate, in writing, to the County Health Officer that they will limit customers within the business to no more than ten at any given time, that at least 6 feet of space will be maintained between customers at all times, and that effective cleaning will be performed between customers.
As the State Health Officer, I specifically deem this order necessary to protect the public health. See Wyo. Stat. Ann. S 35-1-240(a)(iv). I will reassess the necessity of this order as appropriate to do so and according to accepted epidemiological and medical standards. Any person or legal entity that violates this Order shall be subject to criminal prosecution under Wyo. Stat. Ann. $$ 35-1-105 and -106.
DATED THIS 19 DAY OF March, 2020.
Alexia Harrist Wyoming State Health Officer