{"id":2457505,"date":"2020-04-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=324684"},"modified":"2020-04-22T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T06:00:00","slug":"official-testing-strategy-esssential-to-opening-aspen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/official-testing-strategy-esssential-to-opening-aspen\/","title":{"rendered":"Official: Testing strategy esssential to opening Aspen"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"677\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/midvalleytesting-atd-041720-1-5-1024x677.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/midvalleytesting-atd-041720-1-5-1024x677.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/midvalleytesting-atd-041720-1-5-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/midvalleytesting-atd-041720-1-5-768x508.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/midvalleytesting-atd-041720-1-5-1536x1015.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/midvalleytesting-atd-041720-1-5-2048x1354.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><figcaption><strong>Nurse practitioner Lisa Robbiano, left, tests Helena Guerra for COVID-19 at the MIRA testing bus in El Jebel on Thursday, April 16, 2020. Guerra had a sore throat and wanted to make sure she wouldn\u2019t pass along the virus to her daughter. (Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong><br \/><em>Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">Pitkin County\u2019s chief executive urged commissioners Tuesday to spend at least $1 million to build local community-testing infrastructure for COVID-19 that will allow Aspen to resume normal life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe have to figure this out because this is the safe way to reopen \u2026 and allow people to resume their lives,\u201d County Manager Jon Peacock said Tuesday during the commission\u2019s weekly work session. \u201c(Federal and state authorities) are relying on local governments to do this with very little support.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cCounties are left to do it on their own.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Much of the focus of late has been on the expiration and easing of restrictive, stay-at-home public health orders and which businesses or services might be next to open back up, Peacock said. But while those things are important, they miss the larger point.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\">\n<div class=\"row at-donation at-donation-mobile p-0\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/at-banner-paypal.jpg)\" class=\"col-xl-8 p-3 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/donate\/?utm_source=article&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=donation&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_content=mid-article\">Donate<\/a><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cInstead of thinking about incremental changes,\u201d he said, \u201cwe need to focus on how to build a box-in strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">A \u201cbox-in strategy\u201d involves, first and foremost, getting the virus transmission rate under control, Peacock said. According to Aspen Valley Hospital data showing a slowing COVID-19 infection rate and solid, if not exceptional, local compliance with social-distancing requirements, Pitkin County has achieved that, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe shut it down,\u201d Peacock told commissioners Tuesday. \u201cWe did it really well. You should be really proud of the public health team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">(Through Monday there have been 58 confirmed cases in Pitkin County and two deaths since March 8, <a id=\"N0x1a21080N0x1b7c0b0:N0x1a21080N0x1a319c8\" href=\"https:\/\/covid19.colorado.gov\/data\/case-data\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">according to the state\u2019s data<\/a><i class=\"fas fa-external-link-alt\"><\/i>.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The next step is the actual \u201cboxing in.\u201d Public health officials must be able to test everyone in the county who turns up with COVID-19 symptoms, and those test results must come back within 12 to 24 hours, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Those infected have to be isolated, and contact tracers must go out into the community and find everyone whom those who test positive have come into contact with, Peacock said. All those who were in contact with the person whom tests positive for the virus must be quarantined and monitored, he said. Those who develop symptoms must be tested and isolated and the contact tracing begins again.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThis is what communities or countries \u2026 are doing to reintroduce activity,\u201d Peacock said. \u201cIt\u2019s a roadmap for stair-stepping (down) or easing the public health orders.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Board Chairman Steve Child asked a question that\u2019s been echoing across the country lately because of the lack of a cohesive federal strategy to confront and fight the coronavirus. He wanted to know what Pitkin County would do once tourists from all over the world return, possibly bringing more virulent strains of the virus to Aspen and Pitkin County.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Such an event could \u201csmack us upside the head,\u201d Child said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Peacock agreed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThat\u2019s why building a box-in infrastructure before we open up is so important,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Building the infrastructure will be costly, Peacock said, but not doing it and living with constant, restrictive public health orders will likely cost more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe can\u2019t do it halfway and open up our tourist economy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">County and public health officials want to have a box-in strategy plan put together by the end of the week, Peacock said. It will undoubtedly include plans to hire between 15 and 18 people to act as contact tracers and to monitor patients in quarantine and isolation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe need some people to help us out,\u201d Peacock said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">That number of new hires is based on Pitkin County\u2019s population, which by most estimates is just under 18,000 residents, he said. Generally, health departments will need one contact tracer per 1,000 residents, the county\u2019s public health director has said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Peacock estimated that building the box-in strategy, including hiring contact tracers, will probably cost between $1 million and $1.2 million.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Commissioner Patti Clapper noted that, like nearly every business and governmental entity, Pitkin County\u2019s revenue is dropping and commissioners are \u201clooking at major deficits in the county budget.\u201d She said she realized the testing was important, though she wondered how to pay for it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Peacock said the county will initially retrain some existing employees as contact tracers, though as the economy and society gradually open back up, those employees will be needed at their previous jobs and will need to be replaced by additional hires. Covering the cost is where money from the state and federal governments, when and if it comes, will be \u201cso important,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThis is our challenge,\u201d Peacock said. \u201cWe\u2019re looking to try and scale up and allow more of normal activities to take place. It will take time, but we really need to start.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Pitkin County is preparing to embark on its first community testing run after procuring 1,000 tests that read COVID-19 antibodies in the blood. The exact plan of whom will be tested and when has not yet been publicly revealed, though officials are putting that plan together.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Commissioner Kelly McNicholas Kury highlighted Gov. Jared Polis\u2019 comments Monday singling out Pitkin County for its community testing efforts. However, she pointed out that local officials like herself were not at all satisfied with the testing efforts they\u2019ve had to deal with up to this point, which have not been substantially supported by the state.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Polis on Monday also said neighboring Eagle County will likely be one of the first Colorado counties to open. Commissioner George Newman suggested keeping a close eye on the situation next door, and Peacock said officials will certainly pay attention to what happens there in the next few weeks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe want to be a little more cautious,\u201d Peacock said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Pitkin County has already dispensed a little more than $1.1 million to county residents who lost jobs and needed help with rent, food and other expenses. That money \u2014 an average of $1,116 per request \u2014 went toward 988 requests for assistance and benefited 1,647 people, Peacock said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">More than 80% of the requests were for rent or mortgage assistance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:jauslander@aspentimes.com\">jauslander@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/official-testing-strategy-esssential-to-opening-aspen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nurse practitioner Lisa Robbiano, left, tests Helena Guerra for COVID-19 at the MIRA testing bus in El Jebel on Thursday, April 16, 2020. Guerra had a sore throat and wanted to make sure she wouldn\u2019t pass along the virus to her daughter. (Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times)Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times Pitkin County\u2019s chief executive urged commissioners [&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":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2457505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 01:24:52","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":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2457505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457505\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2457505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2457505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2457505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}