{"id":22860,"date":"2020-05-12T14:09:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-12T20:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/news\/grandlooks-to-reopenearly\/"},"modified":"2020-05-12T14:09:00","modified_gmt":"2020-05-12T20:09:00","slug":"grandlooks-to-reopenearly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/local-news\/grandlooks-to-reopenearly\/","title":{"rendered":"Grandlooks to reopenearly"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Grand County\u2019s commissioners will seek a variance from the state to allow restaurants, lodging, recreational facilities and places of worship to reopen earlier than the state\u2019s timeline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">With support from the towns in Grand County, the commissioners approved a variance request Tuesday outlining why an earlier reopening would be appropriate for Grand, how the county plans to reopen safely and a plan in case infections begin to increase.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI want to reiterate that this is not an exemption,\u201d Commissioner Merrit Linke said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t say turn the lights on or free-for-all. This is a variance that will allow us, in Commissioner (Kris) Manguso\u2019s words, control our own destiny.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The goal was to send the variance request to the state by this morning. It\u2019s unclear how long it will take the state to respond. Grand County\u2019s requested variance is being modeled after successful variances in Eagle and Mesa counties with the hope the state will approve it quickly.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row shn-donation shn-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/02\/shn-logo-2x-wht.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/02\/shn-logo-2x-wht.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">According to the county\u2019s request, a variance is appropriate for Grand because case numbers have remained steady since April 21, testing capacity has increased and county agencies are prepared for a potential surge at hospitals with overflow facilities lined up and resources available.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Surveillance testing was conducted Friday at businesses around the county, and all of the tests returned have come back negative. More surveillance testing is expected this week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe\u2019ll do another testing round \u2026 to get more data,\u201d said Schelly Olson, spokesperson for the Grand County COVID-19 response team. \u201cFolks who have businesses who weren\u2019t contacted, but are interested (in participating in surveillance testing) can reach out to us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">If approved, one key precaution outlined in the county\u2019s requested variance is the requirement of masks for employees and guests of reopened businesses, including restaurants, gyms, lodging and worship centers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Guests would also be required to wear masks inside restaurants, except when sitting at their tables, and in the common areas of lodging, worship centers and gyms. Employees should be wearing masks at all times when they\u2019re around guests or other employees.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cFor the safety of your employees and your guests, we\u2019re asking for adherence to the face covering requirement, so voluntary compliance is always what we want first \u2014 education and voluntary compliance,\u201d Olson said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The request includes several appendices laying out the safety measures each type of business should take to reopen, including increasing sanitation and implementing social distancing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">For restaurants, that means spacing tables out and keeping diners six feet apart unless they\u2019re from the same households, as well as adhering to a 40% maximum capacity limit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Diners are also requested to limit their time inside restaurants to just long enough to finish their food. Waiting areas and self-serve areas will be closed, and single-use condiments and hand sanitizer should be provided.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Bar areas in restaurants would remain closed. Bars, breweries, wine tasting rooms and distilleries should also remain closed to in-person dining.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Lodging businesses will be allowed to open at full capacity, but would be required to have a 72-hour waiting period between lodging guests in the same room or rental. The businesses must still maintain social distancing and mask wearing in common areas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Communal amenities, except the gym, should be closed to the public, while partitions should be installed at close-contact areas, like check-in. Housekeeping will not occur during a guest\u2019s stay, but increased cleaning in between stays would be required.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The county also outlined several metrics it will track, including number of new cases, available tests and number of people reporting respiratory illness through the symptom tracker, to ensure the reopening is occurring safely.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The request also says the county has the ability to investigate new cases within 24 hours and enough personal protection equipment. The request also identifies when the county should transition back to more restrictive rules if necessary.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/news\/grandlooks-to-reopenearly\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Sky-Hi News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Grand County\u2019s commissioners will seek a variance from the state to allow restaurants, lodging, recreational facilities and places of worship to reopen earlier than the state\u2019s timeline. With support from the towns in Grand County, the commissioners approved a variance request Tuesday outlining why an earlier reopening would be appropriate for Grand, how the county [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22860","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-21 02:50:23","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22860\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}