{"id":804981,"date":"2020-03-06T14:45:17","date_gmt":"2020-03-06T21:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=380079"},"modified":"2020-03-09T08:48:34","modified_gmt":"2020-03-09T14:48:34","slug":"summit-county-following-every-lead-in-tracing-coronavirus-patient-contacts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/summit-county-following-every-lead-in-tracing-coronavirus-patient-contacts\/","title":{"rendered":"Summit County following \u2018every lead\u2019 in tracing coronavirus patient contacts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Summit County Environmental Health Manager Dan Hendershott speaks at a press conference Thursday night at the County Commons in Frisco to discuss the newly confirmed case of COVID-19. The visitor who tested positive for coronavirus had been skiing at Keystone and Vail resorts before being treated at St. Anthony Summit Medical Center.<\/strong>
Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

FRISCO \u2014 Community members are understandably concerned after a man tested positive for novel coronavirus in Summit County on Thursday<\/a> afternoon, the first known case of the disease in Colorado.<\/p>\n

As public health officials continue to investigate the case, community leaders are emphasizing that the risk of infection to the general public is relatively low, and that residents and visitors should stay calm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s going to hit every community to some degree,\u201d Assistant County Manager Sarah Vaine said. \u201cBut if we\u2019re particularly careful with our vulnerable folks, and if we\u2019re all diligent about practicing good hygiene, then I think we\u2019re going to get through this just fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the local emergence of the disease \u2014 known officially as coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19 \u2014 public health officials have been hard at work in a process called \u201ccontact tracing,\u201d essentially trying to backtrack through the patient\u2019s steps during his time in the area to identify individuals who came in close contact with him and determine whether they might have been exposed to the virus.<\/p>\n

According to officials, the patient likely didn\u2019t interact closely with many people after he began showing symptoms. He flew into Denver International Airport from California on Feb. 29 and drove a rental car to Summit County. Throughout his travels, he was asymptomatic and extremely unlikely to have spread the disease, officials said.<\/p>\n

He first began showing initial symptoms Monday, March 2, a day he was skiing at Vail Mountain, according to Dan Hendershott, Summit County\u2019s environmental health manager. He returned to his rental at Slopeside Condominiums in Keystone<\/a> and stayed inside sick the next day. On Wednesday, March 4, he was informed that a travel companion with whom he recently went to Italy had been diagnosed with COVID-19, and he reached out directly to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to inform them he might have contracted the disease.<\/p>\n

He checked into St. Anthony Summit Medical Center later that day and was diagnosed Thursday, March 5. County officials have since lauded the man for taking steps to mitigate the potential spread of the illness.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn contacting the health department, he really went above and beyond what you\u2019d normally expect,\u201d Vaine said. \u201cHe found out his companion got a positive result, and he was alarmed. I think he was more conscientious and proactive than most of us would be. \u2026 I hate the fact that he\u2019s getting a bad rap. He did every single thing right.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was driven down to the Front Range by his fiancee, and he is currently recovering in isolation. His fiancee and two Denver friends with whom he was staying in Summit County have all been quarantined, as well.<\/p>\n

Summit County officials have since had the opportunity to speak with the man directly and are confident they\u2019ve been able to track down any other individuals who might have had prolonged exposure to the man \u2014 mostly property management employees taking care of the condo.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were able to use geographic information systems to determine the owner of the condo,\u201d Vaine said. \u201cWe called that person and woke them up in the middle of the night to figure out who the property management company was. We called the company and got in touch with the (company) owner who was able to tell us exactly what time they checked in, who checked in, what time they checked out, any maintenance people who went into the unit \u2014 they had all that information. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were able to interview the woman who cleaned the condo extensively about the protocol she used, the products she used, the manner in which she cleaned all the rooms, what she did with the linens and all those things. \u2026 I think we\u2019ve contacted people we probably didn\u2019t even need to just to be overly cautious. I think we\u2019ve followed every lead available to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vaine noted that officials don\u2019t believe any of the individuals who were contacted have been infected, and none of them have been quarantined or asked to make changes to their daily routines. Individuals who were contacted also had the opportunity to speak in person with public health officials, ask questions and work through any concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone was very cooperative,\u201d Vaine said.<\/p>\n

Likewise, officials are saying it\u2019s unlikely others in the condo complex are at a heightened risk of infection. After the man left, nobody else entered the unit for about 23 hours, and nobody has rented the unit since.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile they followed their cleaning procedures, we\u2019re being extra diligent and asking them to clean again to the standards outlined to us by the CDC,\u201d Hendershott said. \u201cWe\u2019re asking them not to rent the room until those cleaning procedures have been verified. We don\u2019t feel like there\u2019s any exposure to additional guests related to this condo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hendershott also responded to community concerns about where else the man might have traveled while in the area, noting that members of the public shouldn\u2019t be concerned unless they had prolonged and close contact with the man.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe information we have available now on COVID-19 transmission does not suggest that it\u2019s transmitted via fomite exposure,\u201d Hendershott said. \u201cThose are things like touching doorknobs or the gas pump, sharing a room key or pushing a button on an elevator. That\u2019s really not how we\u2019re seeing it transmitted.\u201d<\/p>\n

While officials have taken proactive steps to stop the spread of the new coronavirus in Summit County, it\u2019s unclear how exactly its emergence will affect the community. For now, officials are asking the public to remain calm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just the beginning,\u201d Vaine said. \u201cI think communities across the country will probably have (COVID-19) impact them in some way. And it\u2019s going to take some time for us to see what the real impact is. But people need to be patient and calm and follow the directions of the CDC and our local public health department.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/strong>via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summit County Environmental Health Manager Dan Hendershott speaks at a press conference Thursday night at the County Commons in Frisco to discuss the newly confirmed case of COVID-19. The visitor who tested positive for coronavirus had been skiing at Keystone and Vail resorts before being treated at St. Anthony Summit Medical Center.Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com […]<\/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":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-804981","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-19 19:32:02","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":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=804981"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":805025,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804981\/revisions\/805025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}