Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times
Public health officials plan to extend Pitkin County’s stay-at-home order another week until May 8, when a modified version of the state’s “safer at home” order will be implemented after that, county officials said Monday.
“We want to be conservative and not open it up too fast,” Bill Linn, spokesman for the local team managing the response to the virus outbreak, told The Aspen Times on Monday. “That (week delay) will allow us to look at the impacts of opening up construction and landscaping, and whether we have the infrastructure in place to deal with COVID impacts.”
More detail about the changes will be presented Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. during an emergency meeting of the Pitkin County Board of Health. The changes, however, will not be adopted until another emergency health board meeting Thursday, Linn said.
Pitkin County’s current stay-at-home order is set to expire Thursday.
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“We hate to impact the livelihoods of everyone who have been hurt by the COVID-19 restrictions,” Pitkin County Public Health Director Karen Koenemann said in a news release Monday. “At the same time we want to avoid relaxing restrictions too quickly, only to have to reimpose them if there is a surge in cases.”
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis in a news conference Monday afternoon went over the steps for the state’s safer-at-home changes, which went into effect Monday. Any city or county health orders that are more stringent supersede those of the state.
The governor said Monday that local governments “can continue to have more restrictive orders” if they have more concerns.
“Make sure you’re following any local law or restriction as well,” Polis said.
He later said that Colorado’s mountain communities are not ready yet for visitors and “I encourage residents of other states not to recreate in Colorado.”
The Aspen City Council is expected to vote Monday night on an ordinance making face masks mandatory within city limits.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
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