Abels' contract renewed

Dr. Duane Abels will continue to serve as the Carbon County Health Officer following a unanimous vote from the Board of Carbon County Commissioners (BOCCC) on June 7.

The renewal of Abels’ contract with Carbon County comes just one year after he was selected to replace Dr. Marvin Wayne Couch II, who served as county health officer for two years. The reappointment of Abels came with no discussion from any of the five commissioners nor with any of the polarizing politics which seemed to center around Couch at the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020.

Prior to the pandemic, the role of county health officer—and that of state epidemiologist—appeared to draw little attention. As the pandemic hit the United States and Wyoming and mask mandates and closure orders were issued, the role of county health officers became a proverbial lighting rod. 

On November 23, 2020—five days after Couch issued a county-wide mask mandate—the Carbon County Republican Party Executive Committee sought an immediate withdrawal of the mandate and requested Couch’s resignation or removal via a letter to the BOCCC. While Couch was neither resigned nor removed, other county health officers throughout the state were. 

The Wyoming Legislature, during the 2021 Legislative Session, saw a number of bills introduced with various attempts to limit the role of the state epidemiologist and of public health orders. Many of those bills, however, died in committee or never made it to introduction.

Rather than renew the contract for Couch in 2021, the county commissioners instead opted to accept proposals from other physicians. Couch, along with Abels, provided an application with the BOCCC ultimately voting 4-1 to contract with Abels. Commissioner Sue Jones provided the lone dissenting vote in 2021, stating “I have nothing against him (Abels) personally and I’m sure that he will be able to do the job. I think that there was a bit too much personal and we need to back up. We had job requirements, we had statutes, we had a request for proposal and nothing was unmet in those.”

Abels’ first year as Carbon County Health Officer was almost entirely without the political tension seen during Couch’s tenure. Mask mandates, by that time, had been lifted and many of the health orders first put into place in 2020 had been rescinded. While there continued to be a push for vaccinations and boosters against COVID-19, especially as additional variants made their way to Wyoming, the number of fully vaccinated individuals as of June 6, 2022 is still below 50 percent.

In attendance at the June 7 meeting, Abels informed the BOCCC that Carbon County Public Health was still seeing cases of COVID variants.

“The omicron variant is five variants now in the United States, still circulating. We’ve been doing pretty good and hopefully it stays that way,” said Abels. “This is going to be a yearly thing like influenza.”

As of June 7, 2022 Carbon County had 1,150 laboratory confirmed cases of COVID-19 in 2022 with 7 active cases. 

Abels’ contract with Carbon County runs from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023.

The next meeting of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners will be at 9 a.m. on June 21 at the Carbon Building - Courthouse Annex in Rawlins, Wyoming.