Another Junk Study Grades Wyoming (OPINION)

Here we go again. People who have never been to Wyoming researching Wyoming from their sofa and their laptops.

This time, they decided to be nice and give us a higher grade on social distancing. Not long ago Wyoming ranked almost last in the nation. Now, apparently, we are 3rd. 

But we have only improved so much, the "study" says, because the rest of the country is doing so poorly. I wonder if that includes all of the protesting and rioting that is happening in the rest of the nation.

This brings our supposed score from an "F"- to a  “D+."

To give you an idea of how bad these studies are: Wyoming is topped only by Montana and Alaska and it shares the “D+” with New Mexico and Vermont. All of these states are known for their sparse populations, small towns, farms, ranches, and so on. In other words, people who don't really care to be around a lot of other people.

These "studies" take into account what they call “travel to non-essential” locations, such as restaurants and department stores. But tracking people from home, on the sofa, in their pajamas, means they did not actually go to any Wyoming restaurants or retail locations so see what people are doing there. That means that much of the "study" is assumed behavior.

So why do news organizations continue to share these bogus "studies?" Because they need to crank out stories. That's their job.

So what we have here are lazy researchers posting studies that are picked up by lazy reporters.

I would like to encourage all Wyoming reporters and editors to take a moment and study the study, rather than just sharing it.