Facing coronavirus and cuts

Carbon County Public Health will be facing budget cuts from the State level even as they prepare for a potential increase in cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). 

Cuts to Public Health

During the July 7 meeting of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners (BOCCC), Nurse Manager Amanda Brown informed the commissioners that a memo had been received from the State of Wyoming warning of budget cuts of up to 20 percent.

“They have notified us that there will be budget reductions to our MCH (Maternal and Child Health) program but they do not know how much that will be yet,” said Brown. “The whole program has to project a 20 percent budget cut. It was sent to the governor but it hasn’t been approved or we don’t know yet.”

Brown added that, while the State would be allocating funding to counties based on “a formula of some kind” that would help preserve staff, the public health office should still expect cuts.

BOCCC Chairman John Johnson asked Brown how she felt the 20 percent cut would affect the services provided by Carbon County Public Health and its clients. Brown replied that her biggest concern was staffing for the office as a grant from the State helped pay for two positions.

“If we did cut a huge amount—we have one full-time position and one part-time and we are busy as it is with that—without one of those positions it would be impossible to run the program,” Brown said.

“It’s a simple health and safety issue here and I would think that we should consider talking to our representatives and encourage them to not defund this to a point where it’s not effective,” said Johnson.

Commissioner Sue Jones was quick to express her frustration with the cuts to public health programs and what she saw as a disconnect between the Office of Governor Mark Gordon and the Wyoming Legislature.

“This is just one of many state departments that, on the service end, touches the people. The cuts are happening and then we have the beltway still functions at 100 percent,” said Jones. “Really aggravating.”

“We’re pretty bare bones already and it’s a very practical program. That’s the program we support pregnant moms and babies and families, so it’s very important,” said Brown.

The day after the BOCCC meeting, Gordon held a press conference in which he confirmed what Brown had told the commissioners. The governor stated that he had received 10 percent cuts from department heads and that included funding for mental health, children and elder care.

“These are some of the many, very difficult, choices we’ll have to make,” said Gordon. “It means the level of service that the State will be able to give its citizens will be reduced.”

Gordon added that he had requested an additional 10 percent reduction in budgets from department heads, stating that many departments were cutting down to the bone to meet the requests.

COVID Update

In addition to the news of budget cuts from the State, Brown updated the BOCCC on COVID-19 in Carbon County. As of that meeting, the county had added an additional confirmed positive to the total count, bringing it to 16 confirmed cases.

“The last three cases have been pretty widespread and a lot of people are in isolation, a lot of people are tested. We haven’t had any associated positives with our other cases but a lot of probables and several people that the test results are still pending,” said Brown. “So, I definitely foresee a lot more positives coming within the next few weeks, especially with the holiday weekend, and we’ve expected this.”

Brown added that the increasing number of cases was not a concern to the public health office unless the cases spread faster and they were unable to quarantine confirmed positives and associated contacts.

“We are hiring a case investigator to help me with COVID contact tracing because it’s getting a little too much for our office to handle. That is something our grant for crisis funding supports,” Brown said.

Following concern expressed by Johnson about the capacity for testing, Brown informed the BOCCC that she was still receiving weekly shipments of tests from the State of Wyoming and had yet to be denied the amount she ordered each week.

“There’s never been a point where they say we couldn’t have the tests we need. Every Tuesday, we get deliveries,” said Brown.

She also informed the BOCCC that Carbon County Public Health was testing anybody with COVID-like symptoms or anybody who was connected to a confirmed positive.

“I just want to thank you and your staff and Dr. Couch for being so responsive and covering this so well,” Jones said.

The next meeting of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners will be at 9 a.m. at the Carbon County Courthouse in Rawlins.