{"id":807929,"date":"2020-05-29T15:13:49","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T21:13:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=384139"},"modified":"2020-05-29T15:13:49","modified_gmt":"2020-05-29T21:13:49","slug":"summit-county-officials-express-frustrations-over-variance-denial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/summit-county-officials-express-frustrations-over-variance-denial\/","title":{"rendered":"Summit County officials express frustrations over variance denial"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"p402_hide\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/STR-SDN-051620-2-1024x683.jpg\" alt class=\"wp-image-383378\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/STR-SDN-051620-2-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/STR-SDN-051620-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/STR-SDN-051620-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/STR-SDN-051620-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/STR-SDN-051620-2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><\/p><figcaption><strong>Winterpoint Townhomes in Breckenridge are one of many short-term rental properties in Summit County, as pictured May 14. Short-term rentals are still prohibited under the state\u2019s safer-at-home order.<\/strong><br \/><em>Liz Copan \/ <a href=\"mailto:ecopan@summitdaily.com\">ecopan@summitdaily.com<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>BRECKENRIDGE \u2014 When the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment <a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/summit-county-grapples-with-variance-denial-as-restaurants-are-given-a-limited-green-light-statewide\/\">denied Summit County\u2019s request for a variance<\/a> from the state\u2019s safer-at-home order, it was analyzing incorrect data, county officials say.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Amy Wineland, Summit County public health director, <a href=\"http:\/\/summitcountyco.gov\/DocumentCenter\/View\/28312\/Cover-letter---variance-request---5-15-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wrote a letter<\/a> to state health department Director Jill Hunsaker Ryan on May 15 requesting a variance to open short-term rentals and restaurants. The request was denied Sunday, May 24. The next day, Gov. Jared Polis issued an executive order allowing restaurants across the state to open at 50% capacity.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Because of Polis\u2019 order, the restaurant aspect of Summit County\u2019s variance request is no longer relevant, but the fate of the county\u2019s short-term rentals hangs in the balance. Summit County officials have gone back to the state, asking the health department to reconsider the variance because it did not use accurate data in the denial of the request, local officials said.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"http:\/\/summitcountyco.gov\/DocumentCenter\/View\/28414\/CDPHE-Summit-Variance-Letter---May-24-20?bidId=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a letter from Ryan<\/a> to Summit County public health officials, the county\u2019s request was denied based on an \u201cincreasing number of cases and a percent positivity of tests\u201d in the county.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row sd-donation sd-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/SDN-logo-white-1.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/SDN-logo-white-1.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>\u201cSummit County has had 41 cases of COVID-19 in the past two weeks for an incident rate of 132 per 100,000 people, which is above the state rate of 100 per 100,000. Also, your testing positivity rate ranges from 7-19% for the past two weeks, and we prefer to see it consistently under 10%,\u201d Ryan wrote.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/covid19.colorado.gov\/public-health-executive-orders\/local-orders-variances\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the state public health department\u2019s website<\/a>, counties that request a variance have to prove a downward trajectory of cases within a 14-day period or a decrease in positive test results over that same two-week time frame.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>At Wednesday\u2019s joint Summit County Board of Health and Board of County Commissioners meeting, County Manager Scott Vargo said the state\u2019s data analysis had a number of inconsistencies. For example, the county\u2019s positivity rate numbers are around 11%, not 19% like the state suggested, he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The state\u2019s claim that the county has seen 41 cases of the virus in the two weeks before May 24, when the letter was written, is also incorrect based on the <a href=\"http:\/\/summitcountyco.gov\/1323\/Case-Data\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">county\u2019s daily update of case numbers<\/a> on its coronavirus webpage.<\/p>\n<p>According to Summit Daily News reporting on the county\u2019s case data,&nbsp;from May 10-24, the county saw 33 cases, which is an incident rate of 106 per 100,000 people based on the 2019 census estimate of Summit County\u2019s population, 31,011 people.<\/p>\n<p>Vargo mentioned multiple reasons behind the discrepancies. In some instances, the state identified people who live in Park County as Summit County cases. Additionally, some people who initially tested positive in Summit County and were retested in another county were counted as two positive cases. The last names of some of the cases were mixed up, as well, Vargo said, with some people being counted twice because of it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Vargo and Wineland have met with state officials multiple times this week to discuss a reconsideration of the variance request and bring up the data issues. During a meeting Tuesday, May 26, the state officials recognized the discrepancies in the data, Vargo said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Another meeting between Wineland, Vargo and state officials Thursday, May 28, went well, Julie Sutor, county communications director, said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a productive conversation, but we didn\u2019t get any answers (Thursday),\u201d she said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>County officials remain hopeful that the variance will be approved or the state lifts its current ban on short-term rentals. If the state plans to lift the ban, Vargo hopes it will be announced in time to give short-term rental owners a heads up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis idea of holding us back and not allowing us to inform our short-term rental owners and operators that (the ban will be lifted) is incredibly frustrating for all of us,\u201d he said at Wednesday\u2019s meeting. \u201cAnd as (Wineland) said, not the best use of all of our time to be going back and forth with all of this. (It\u2019s) not the best use of the state\u2019s time either.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As frustrations rise, county officials hope they can have a more productive relationship with the state.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt a certain point, they have got to let go of the micromanagement of some of this and make more decisions that are common-sense based than what we\u2019re seeing now,\u201d Vargo said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/summit-county-officials-express-frustrations-over-variance-denial\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Winterpoint Townhomes in Breckenridge are one of many short-term rental properties in Summit County, as pictured May 14. Short-term rentals are still prohibited under the state\u2019s safer-at-home order.Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com BRECKENRIDGE \u2014 When the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment denied Summit County\u2019s request for a variance from the state\u2019s safer-at-home order, it [&hellip;]<\/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-807929","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-09 21:36:15","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\/807929","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=807929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807929\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}