By the end of next week, citizens across Wyoming may again be able to dine at restaurants, watch a movie at a theater and gather in churches, albeit with new precautions, state officials indicated on Thursday.

Assuming that things go well in the coming days,  bars and restaurants will likely be allowed to offer indoor dining when the state’s current public health orders expire on Friday, May 15, Gov. Mark Gordon said at a press conference.

Similarly, people across the state may again be permitted to gather in larger groups starting on the 15th — including in movie theaters and church buildings — though with some added safety measures. 

“We will also look to see whether it is appropriate to ... allow for larger gatherings," Gordon said. "This would allow churches around the state to resume in-person services and movie theaters to  resume operations again with social distancing and sanitation measures in place to protect public health and limit potential spread of the virus.”

The governor also indicated that Wyoming’s national parks,  presumably including Yellowstone, could reopen in some form by Memorial Day, which is May 25.

“I’m very confident that our tourism season will come back,” Gordon said at a Thursday news conference. “People will be cautious about it, but it’s exciting to think that Wyoming will really be one of the first to be able to sort of revive that [tourism] industry as well.”

A directive for people to self-quarantine for 14 days after traveling out of state is expiring Friday morning, though the governor asked people to travel “judiciously.”

Both he and State Health Officer Dr. Alexia Harrist stressed the need to generally remain vigilant and cautious as COVID-19 cases continue to be reported in the state and around the country.

While Wyoming has fared better than some hard-hit areas of the country, “the pandemic is, unfortunately, not over,” Harrist said, “and we still need to do what we can to limit the spread of the disease.”

They asked Wyomingites to continue following public health guidelines — including practicing social distancing, working from home when possible, staying home when sick, wearing masks in confined public spaces and taking extra precautions with the elderly and those with underlying conditions, who are at significantly greater risk from the novel coronavirus.

Harrist also urged people with COVID-19-like symptoms to get tested for the disease. She said an earlier shortage of testing supplies has been resolved and that diagnosing as many people as possible can help public health officials limit the spread.

Wyoming had 483 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday, plus 152 probable cases, with seven deaths and 428 recoveries. That made for 200 active confirmed or probable cases. Fremont County has been hit the hardest. With 28 new cases of the disease in the last two days, the county has had a total of 159 cases since March.

Gordon also noted a recent incident in Campbell County in which an infected teen is feared to have inadvertently exposed a large number of at-risk residents to COVID-19.

“That’s the sort of thing that makes us want to pause,” Gordon said.

However, the general message from both the governor and the state health office was that, unless things worsen, restrictions will continue to be relaxed.

Some counties have already loosened their rules, with permission from the state. For instance, Park County — which has had just one confirmed case of COVID-19 — allowed restaurants to offer outdoor dining last week. County commissioners have urged health officials to allow indoor dining in a limited capacity as well, but Park County Public Health Nurse Manager Bill Crampton said Friday that health officials are planning to wait until the state relaxes its orders.

Park County is among 10 counties that have relaxed at least some rules on dining, while five counties have allowed groups of more than 10 to gather for religious purposes.

Restrictions still apply, however. For instance, churches in those counties must provide enough space for households to stay at least 6 feet apart, sanitize materials, have staff wear masks and take other precautions. Similar rules are being applied to restaurants, including a requirement to keep tables 6 feet apart, with no more than six people per table.

Harrist indicated that the state will likely impose similar rules when the state health orders expire on May 15; Gordon said restaurants are “not going to be running at full capacity for a while.”

Personal services businesses like hair salons, barber shops and tattoo parlors were allowed to reopen last week with added rules that include allowing no more than nine people in one room. Harrist indicated that, when the current orders expire, those businesses will likely be allowed to have more people inside their facilities, assuming they maintain adequate space between them.

Gordon said at the press conference that “it’s a slow start, I know.”

“But it’s also a cautious and a good start, because it will allow us to make the next move with greater confidence and the next move with greater confidence,” he said.

Gordon indicated that moving too rapidly could run the risk of hurting the state’s already damaged tourism industry.

“If we screw this up, people who might be thinking about coming to Wyoming are suddenly going to go, ‘I won’t go there because they have a hot spot,’” he said.

The state is limiting camping at state parks to Wyoming residents only — and by reservation only — through the summer, the governor said, but is working with the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service on reopening those facilities to the public “before the end of the month.”

As for when Yellowstone National Park may reopen, Gordon said he is "really looking forward to being able to open, with the federal government, national parks before Memorial Day ... if we can keep on track.”

Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly has said that the park will open in phases. Gordon said he’s had conversations with federal, state and county officials on the question of reopening.

“This is one of those issues where we have to work with Idaho, we have to work with Montana, but my biggest concern is our counties, Park and Teton and Fremont, making sure that everyone is comfortable with this,” Gordon said, adding, “We’ve looked at ways that the parks can open sequentially so that we can get people here and enjoying what Wyoming has to offer.”

In remarks at the news conference, Gordon said the process of easing off the health orders will not be “a simple return to the old way of doing business before this pandemic began,” but he also added that he would love to see a summer that is “much more normal.”

(Editor's note: This story has been updated to say that, as of Friday morning, Park County health officials are not planning on allowing indoor dining before the state does.)