Wyoming's current public health orders are set to expire on May 31, but State Health Officer Dr. Alexia Harrist says it's too soon to say whether the restrictions will be eased, remain in place or be tightened.

"We need to look at what happens with the outbreak metrics before we decide exactly what we're going to do with this next set of orders," Harrist said Wednesday during a press conference.

"As always, if the outbreak metrics say that we can, we look for ways to enable more types of activities, but in a safe way," she added.

It's been a week since Wyoming loosened COVID-19 orders, allowing restaurants to resume table service under specific conditions and people to gather in groups of up to 25.

In that time, the state's coronavirus-related death count has risen from seven to 12, and the number of new cases has shot up, especially in Natrona County.

"We are going to keep identifying more COVID cases in Wyoming," said Harrist. "We know that that is going to happen and it's likely going to continue to happen over the next weeks and months."

"We really do want to keep moving forward and our goal is to identify the cases that are there so that we can implement public health measures," she added. "Two of those big factors are making sure our vulnerable populations are protected and making sure our hospitals are not overwhelmed."

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