Washakie County Commissioners have voted out their public health officer, after what some describe as a miscommunication between the commission and Dr. Ed Zimmerman.
Commissioner Terry Wolf said the decision was made due to personnel matters and Dr. Zimmerman's decision to request a local mask mandate before talking with the commissioners.
Wolf said it came full circle when the commission spent two hours discussing how to go about enforcing health guidelines in the community. At the end when Dr. Zimmerman was asked for a recommendation, he told the commission he had already sent a request to the department of health for a local mask mandate—which Wolf described as a "moot point."
The mask mandate will remain in effect until December 4. Wolf said the commissioners are not opposed to mask wearing, they just felt a local mandate wouldn't be effective in their county, and prefer educating business owners and community members on health guidelines like why it's important to wear a mask and stay six feet apart. Wolf said that kind of approach would be met with less resistance and confrontation by the public.
On a Facebook post, Dr. Zimmerman wrote, "As many of you know, the County Commissioners were very unhappy with my decision to issue a Countywide mask mandate. The County Commissioners permission, however, was not needed to issue a mask mandate. This system is in place to ensure that medical decisions for the county are not overruled by those in political office. I did meet with the Commissioners for several hours to give them the scientific, medical, and epidemiologic reasoning why I felt that a mask mandate was absolutely necessary."
State health officer Dr. Alexia Harrist is in charge while the commission actively looks for a replacement. Washakie joins Fremont County as the only two counties in the state without a health officer.
