{"id":1318687,"date":"2020-03-11T19:21:35","date_gmt":"2020-03-12T01:21:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=994542"},"modified":"2020-03-11T19:21:35","modified_gmt":"2020-03-12T01:21:35","slug":"gov-polis-virus-disproportionately-affects-colorado-ski-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/gov-polis-virus-disproportionately-affects-colorado-ski-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov. Polis: Virus disproportionately affects Colorado ski country"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Workers set up for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment first community testing center for COVID-19 at the state lab on Wednesday, March 11, 2020 in Denver, Colo. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems.<\/strong>
RJ Sangosti\/The Denver Post via AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

DENVER (AP) \u2014 Gov. Jared Polis said Wednesday the coronavirus is disproportionately affecting Colorado\u2019s ski resort and mountain areas, where community spread of the virus has been confirmed.<\/p>\n

Polis recommended during a news conference that people over 60 years old don\u2019t travel to those areas because of the limited capacity of their health care facilities and the high altitude.<\/p>\n

The number of people in Colorado who have tested positive for the virus has risen to at least 33, including several in Pitkin County who had been in contact with an Australian visitor to Aspen who tested positive after returning home.<\/p>\n

Polis said officials have confirmed community spread \u2014 people who did not travel or have known contact with other infected people \u2014 in the high country of Colorado, but not yet in the Denver metro area. \u201cWe are acting and treating it as though it\u2019s already occurring,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are more difficult days ahead,\u201d Polis said, telling the public to expect more cases. Again he urged people to maintain \u201csocial distancing\u201d in public places of at least 6 feet (1.8 meters), wash hands frequently and stay home if sick.<\/p>\n

For most people, the virus causes only mild or moderate symptoms such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.<\/p>\n

The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared coronavirus a pandemic. It says people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while severe cases may last three to six weeks.<\/p>\n

Polis said his administration is preparing restrictions on visits to senior facilities, certain veterans\u2019 care centers and state-run medical facilities.<\/p>\n

Earlier Wednesday, the state ordered employers in certain industries to provide up to four days of paid sick leave for workers with flu-like symptoms being tested for the virus. The Department of Labor and Employment rules were issued under a state of emergency declared by Polis on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Polis says he wants workers in key industries to stay home if they get sick, rather than expose others because they\u2019re worried about losing their jobs.<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s order, in effect for at least 30 days, affects the leisure and hospitality industries, food services, child care, education, nursing home and community living, as well as home health firms working with the at-risk elderly and the disabled. The sick leave requirement isn\u2019t a substitute for sick leave already provided by an employer.<\/p>\n

The department said it is studying expanding unemployment insurance eligibility and other options to help those who test positive and cannot report to work. Currently, unemployment insurance benefits cover those who lose their jobs through no fault of their own.<\/p>\n

Also Wednesday, the University of Colorado at Boulder said it is suspending all in-person classes for the rest of the semester amid fears the coronavirus could spread among the school\u2019s 35,000 students.<\/p>\n

Chancellor Phil DiStefano wrote in a letter to students, faculty and staff that professors will begin teaching online Monday. Much of the campus, including residence and dining halls, libraries, rec centers, the health center and student union, is expected to remain open.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will get through this together. \u2026 The risk of not acting outweighs the inconvenience of these temporary measures,\u201d DiStefano said.<\/p>\n

Other schools are turning to online courses, including Colorado State University, the University of Colorado Denver, Metropolitan State University of Denver and Colorado College.<\/p>\n

In the Denver metro area, a state-run drive-thru testing facility opened Wednesday, accepting only people with a doctor\u2019s order. A Denver public elementary school closed for cleaning after a parent of two students tested positive. Buckley Air Force Base in suburban Denver also closed a child care center after a parent tested positive.<\/p>\n

The NCAA said fans won\u2019t be allowed into its upcoming hockey west regional in Loveland and women\u2019s gymnastics regional at the University of Denver.<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Workers set up for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment first community testing center for COVID-19 at the state lab on Wednesday, March 11, 2020 in Denver, Colo. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1318687","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-13 02:15:53","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":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1318687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318687\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1318687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1318687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1318687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}