pandemic

The first person in the U.S. just died from a strain of the virus in Louisiana, but there’s still some simple ways to stay safe.

Since the pandemic began, healthcare institutions have had many problems including having enough staff. And now, a local chapter of a national advocacy organization says for-profit healthcare organizations are taking advantage of nonprofit facilities closing.

The National Park Service released visitation statistics this week showing that five of the top 15 most-visited parks in 2022 are in the Mountain West. Big crowds can put pressure on national parks, though.

Two bills have been introduced to the House education committee regarding child care. One would create early childhood development special districts while the second would exempt property tax on child care facilities. Teton County Commissioner Natalia Macker who is a mother of three young children helped draft the bills. Wyoming Public Radio’s Kamila Kudelska spoke with Macker on why it is important to focus on early child care.

Through an ARPA - Wyoming Arts Council grant, a music therapist led songwriting workshops with healthcare workers at the Jackson hospital to address work related stress and burnout due to the pandemic. Four groups of health care workers shared stories and processed work-related trauma to write songs about their experiences. Four songs were officially released.

Emergency rental assistance programs have served tens of thousands of people and handed out hundreds of millions of dollars for things like rent and utility payments since they began during the pandemic. Now, many places in the Mountain West are no longer accepting applications because they’ve run out of funds.

The American Automobile Association predicts national travel will be back up to pre-pandemic levels, with 54.6 million people traveling more than 50 miles for the holiday.

The Natrona Collective Health Trust in collaboration with the Wyoming Community Foundation has allocated over $2 million to improve the health and well-being of the county. $350,000 is being allocated over several years to organizations and nonprofits to help alleviate effects of COVID-19, such as suicide prevention and vaccine education and distribution efforts.

Central Wyoming College's program is one of only a handful of meat science programs in the nation and the first in Wyoming. The program teaches United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines, food safety, and how to responsibly butcher an animal.

Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon said he’s happy with how the state responded to the challenges of COVID-19 in the past two years.