{"id":1318759,"date":"2020-03-16T00:20:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-16T06:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/state-officials-urge-residents-to-minimize-all-social-contact\/"},"modified":"2020-03-16T00:20:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-16T06:20:00","slug":"state-officials-urge-residents-to-minimize-all-social-contact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/state-officials-urge-residents-to-minimize-all-social-contact\/","title":{"rendered":"State officials urge residents to minimize all social contact"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday urged people older than 60, or those with underlying medical conditions, not to travel to mountain resorts. On Saturday, he directed all ski resorts to close. Then on Sunday, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment officials urged mountain residents and visitors to limit social contact.<\/strong>
Hyoung Chang \/ The Denver Post | The Denver Post<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

DILLON \u2014 The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on Sunday issued a statement asking residents and visitors of four mountain communities, including Summit County, to \u201cminimize their contact with other people\u201d in an effort to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, or COVID-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone who has been in Eagle, Summit, Pitkin or Gunnison counties in the past week should minimize all contact with other people, whether or not they are experiencing symptoms,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

Those who are experiencing symptoms \u2014 including a cough, fever and shortness of breath \u2014 should call their health care provider and must be isolated for at least 10 days after the onset of symptoms, according to local health officials. People who are ill should leave isolation only after their symptoms improve and they don\u2019t have a fever for 72 hours, without the help of fever-reducing medications.<\/p>\n

Summit residents and visitors are asked to do the following, whether or not they are experiencing symptoms:<\/p>\n

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Summit County health officials expect the outbreak to continue to grow rapidly, saying Friday that it is \u201cjust a matter of time before we confirm that there is community spread just as we are seeing in other communities across the state.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

\u2022 Work from home, if possible<\/p>\n

\u2022 Only go out for necessities, such as groceries and medication<\/p>\n

\u2022 Maintain distance of 6 feet from others<\/p>\n

\u2022 Travel only in a private vehicle<\/p>\n

Health officials also urged people to continue to get outside \u2014 alone or with members of their household \u2014 for some fresh air and exercise while maintaining distance from other people.<\/p>\n

As of Sunday afternoon, Summit County had only two of the state\u2019s 131 positives cases, but 34 tests were pending, according to local health officials. One of those positive cases is a resident of Frisco and the other is an out-of-state visitor who is recovering in the Denver area.<\/p>\n

Two of those 34 people being tested are employees at Silverthorne Recreation Center and Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, both of which are now closed. Those pending tests were reported Friday. The state lab is currently returning results in about 72 hours, but one local resident who is being tested said his wait time was even longer.<\/p>\n

Currently, only those who are 60 and older or have underlying health conditions will be tested. Health care workers and first responders also will be tested, according to Summit County Public Health Director Amy Wineland.<\/p>\n

All Summit County patients who are awaiting test results have been instructed to remain in self-isolation. Four have been hospitalized with severe symptoms, Wineland said. A total of eight tests have come back negative.<\/p>\n

Health officials expect the outbreak to continue to grow rapidly, saying Friday that it is \u201cjust a matter of time before we confirm that there is community spread just as we are seeing in other communities across the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement Sunday, local health officials also reminded community members that even if they aren\u2019t concerned about contracting the virus, it could be deadly to others.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than 80 percent of people infected by the novel coronavirus experience only mild symptoms. However, they can transmit it to high-risk individuals, who are older or have serious underlying health conditions such as cancer, lung disease or heart disease. For these high-risk individuals, COVID-19 can be life threatening, which is why we need to work together to protect one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wineland said that on Monday the county would \u201cformalize\u201d its recommendation against large gatherings, which would put Summit County in line with nearby Eagle, Pitkin and Garfield counties to prohibit the events rather than recommend against them.<\/p>\n

Assistant Summit County Manager Sarah Vaine also asked people to refrain from calling 911 unless it is a true emergency.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an unprecedented experience for us all,\u201d Summit County Emergency Manager Brian Bovaird acknowledged Sunday.<\/p>\n

Intervention timeline<\/p>\n

Intervention efforts to limit the spread of the virus have increased on a daily basis, originally starting with a recommendation from the governor on Wednesday for people 60 and older, or with underlying health conditions, to avoid traveling to the High Country, where localized outbreaks in Eagle and Pitkin counties threatened to overwhelm health care services in those communities.<\/p>\n

The statement appeared to blindside the ski industry, and resorts across the state sent messages to their customers committing to stay open during the busy spring break period.<\/p>\n

Things changed quickly Saturday afternoon, when Vail Resorts announced it would close its mountains across North America. Alterra Mountain Co. and independently owned ski areas quickly followed suit.<\/p>\n

On Saturday night, Polis issued an executive order directing the state\u2019s nearly 30 ski areas to close for at least one week through March 22.<\/p>\n

In a written statement, Polis called the decision \u201cagonizing\u201d and said he would \u201ctake solace in knowing that \u2026 we will be saving the lives of hundreds, perhaps thousands of Coloradans in the days and weeks ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday urged people older than 60, or those with underlying medical conditions, not to travel to mountain resorts. On Saturday, he directed all ski resorts to close. Then on Sunday, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment officials urged mountain residents and visitors to limit social contact.Hyoung Chang \/ The […]<\/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-1318759","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 10:11:05","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\/1318759","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=1318759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318759\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1318759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1318759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1318759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}