{"id":1318756,"date":"2020-03-15T18:45:26","date_gmt":"2020-03-16T00:45:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=994698"},"modified":"2020-03-16T08:25:52","modified_gmt":"2020-03-16T14:25:52","slug":"after-staying-open-sunday-glenwood-hot-springs-will-join-other-tourist-attractions-in-shutdown-mode-this-week-over-covid-19-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/after-staying-open-sunday-glenwood-hot-springs-will-join-other-tourist-attractions-in-shutdown-mode-this-week-over-covid-19-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"After staying open Sunday, Glenwood Hot Springs will join other tourist attractions in shutdown mode this week over COVID-19 concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Cars line the front parking area of the Glenwood Hot Springs Resort on Sunday. The resort stood out Sunday for being one of the few major tourist attractions still open in the Roaring Fork Valley after a cascade of closures over the past few days in an attempt to minimize the spread of the coronavirus.<\/strong>
Peter Baumann\/Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

As other Glenwood Springs tourist attractions were already in shutdown mode for the week Sunday \u2014 and in the case of Sunlight Mountain ski area, buttoning up for the season \u2014 the Glenwood Hot Springs Resort was still open, at least for one more day.<\/p>\n

Sunday afternoon, Hot Springs officials issued a statement saying they, too, would close for the normally busy spring break week along with state ski resorts and other tourist venues over concerns about the potential spread of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

The resort closed the Hot Springs pool, spa, athletic club, grill and retail shop through March 22, effective at 6 p.m. Sunday.<\/p>\n

Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park and the co-owned Iron Mountain Hot Springs announced late Saturday<\/a> that they would close for the week effective Sunday.<\/p>\n

And, Sunlight Mountain Resort followed Gov. Jared Polis\u2019s executive order Saturday<\/a> shutting down ski resorts in the state for the coming week in an effort to control the spread of the virus, which has been declared a national and world pandemic.<\/p>\n

Sunlight made the decision on its own to shut down for the season, instead of continuing until its scheduled April 5 closing.<\/p>\n

The Hot Springs Pool stood out Sunday as one of the few major tourist attractions still open in the Roaring Fork Valley, and seemed to be doing pretty good business amid a cascade of closures over the past few days in an attempt to minimize the spread of the coronavirus.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been meeting regularly on this in recent weeks, participating in the public conference call with the city and looking at industry recommendations for pools,\u201d Hot Springs Vice President John Bosco said Sunday in a phone interview along with Director of Operations Kevin Flohr.<\/p>\n

As long as pools follow proper treatment procedures and other sanitary practices, they do not pose a risk for spread of disease via the pool water, he said.<\/p>\n

The coronavirus is believed to mostly spread through droplets emitted from an infected person through the air or after it lands on a surface. The Centers for Disease Control also reports there is evidence of people being contagious even if they aren\u2019t displaying symptoms.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe really didn\u2019t know what we were going to have in terms of crowds, either,\u201d he added, noting the number of daily visitors was down by about a third compared to a typical spring break weekend day.<\/p>\n

It has not been a typical spring break in terms of lobby congestion, they added, and precautions were taken to open the second-floor locker rooms to allow more personal space.<\/p>\n

Hand sanitizer stations and other sanitary protocols were also in place, they said.<\/p>\n

As an outdoor venue, the Hot Springs does not fall under Garfield County Health\u2019s prohibition on public gatherings of more than 50 people.<\/p>\n

In its official press release announcing the Sunday evening closing, pool officials said, \u201cGlenwood Hot Springs Resort treats the health and wellness of guests, employees, vendors and the community with the utmost seriousness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn these uncertain and challenging times, the resort feels it is prudent to temporarily cease pool operations following the recommendations of public health officials,\u201d the press release continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is in support of the overall well-being of the community. The situation will be monitored on a day-to-day basis and decisions will be made accordingly,\u201d it concluded.<\/p>\n

For now, Glenwood Hot Springs Lodge will remain open, and has \u201cimplemented enhanced strategies to protect guests,\u201d according to the release.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is being evaluated, as well, on a daily basis,\u201d Bosco said.<\/p>\n

Sunlight Mountain on Sunday, issued a statement via its Facebook page<\/a> formally announcing its decision to shut down for the season, and offer refunds to anyone who had pre-purchased lift tickets, lessons or rentals.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s all take the necessary precautions and keep ourselves and our local community safe,\u201d Sunlight said in the post. \u201cWe will tackle this pandemic and chat about it next season on the chairlift.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, uphill users are welcome, Sunlight Sales and Marketing Director Troy Hawks said, but passes should still be displayed and designated uphill routes should be used. Uphillers should also be aware that crews will be on the slopes doing shutdown procedures, he said.<\/p>\n

Hawks said Sunlight was already winding down on the staffing front, as many seasonal workers leave in March to prepare for spring and summer jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome staff will be on this week as we close down, then for many of them it\u2019s on to their summer jobs,\u201d Hawks said. \u201cWe actually lose staff before we close each year, so being three weeks from our original planned closing we already had staff transitioning to their summer employment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do regret having to stop our operation sooner than planned and the inconvenience it has caused to those employees looking forward to those work hours,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

jstroud@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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

Cars line the front parking area of the Glenwood Hot Springs Resort on Sunday. The resort stood out Sunday for being one of the few major tourist attractions still open in the Roaring Fork Valley after a cascade of closures over the past few days in an attempt to minimize the spread of the coronavirus.Peter […]<\/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":["post-1318756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-04 07:31:18","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\/1318756","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=1318756"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1318764,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318756\/revisions\/1318764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1318756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1318756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1318756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}