County Moves to “Safer at Home” Public Health Orders

30 Apr County Moves to “Safer at Home” Public Health Orders

Once approved on Thursday, April 30, new public health orders will be in effect for the month of May. The orders in their entirety will be posted on the county webpage at sanmiguelcountyco.gov/coronavirus.

For further information, go to tellmed.org/coronavirus. For more San Miguel County updates, go here.

The San Miguel County Department of Public Health and Environment, in agreement with the Board of Health, renewed public health orders today, to take effect Saturday, May 2 at 12am when current orders are set to expire.

New orders focus on shifting from a Stay at Home to a Safer at Home model.

Safer at home means people are no longer ordered to stay home, but are strongly encouraged to stay at home as much as possible.

“Safer at home allows for some local non-critical businesses to open following necessary restrictions such as social distancing requirements and wearing face masks to help continue keeping our COVID-19 curve flattened,” Grace Franklin, County Public Health Director said.

The new orders also offer more flexibility for San Miguel County consumers to access goods and services which will provide some stimulation to the local economy.

New Public Health Orders will open (with restrictions):

• Non-critical businesses

• Retail stores

• Limited healthcare services (such as physical therapy, acupuncture, and dental offices)

• Personal services (such as hair salons, personal trainers)

• Real estate: most operations, except “open houses” may resume

• Local and personal recreation with limited travel (within your community)

• Babysitting services with no more than 4 children in any group

• Restaurants and bars may continue take-out and curbside service (no dining inside or outside is permitted)

• Field services, such as construction and landscaping continue to follow specific orders and application processes issued Friday, April 24.

• Beginning Monday, May 4: office-based businesses may operate with 50 percent of its staff at the workplaces.

All Public Health Orders including details on restrictions will be posted (by the end of Thursday) on the county webpage.

To see the state of Colorado’s Safer at Home information, guidance and Public Health Orders, visit here.

County new orders, which will be in effect until May 31 at midnight, require all non-essential business staff and customers to be residents of San Miguel County.

“We know when people move about, there is a risk that the virus hitches a ride with them. Our goal is to take these measured steps to allow us to return to a new normal while still protecting public health,” Franklin said.

Under the new orders, the following remain closed (or not allowed):

• Childcare facilities

• Short-term lodging

• No visitors allowed in county (non-resident homeowners allowed with compliance to 14 day quarantine order upon arrival)

• K-12 school buildings

• Gyms

• Spas

• Nightclubs

• More information to come regarding graduation and summer camps

“We recognize that restrictions impact our community and want to assure everyone that we are doing our best to balance the wants and needs with what we believe is necessary for public health,” Franklin said.

“We will reassess the impact of the new orders in two weeks and if everything looks good on our metrics, and resources continue to be available, we may be able to continue to loosen restrictions.”

Dr. Sharon Grundy, County Medical Officer, said she is hopeful that we are on the right track.

“We have done an excellent job flattening the curve. By virtue of opening things up and having more testing available, we will see more COVID cases. That is why we must remain vigilant with best practices to mitigate the power of the virus.”

Safer at home best practices include:

• Continue to stay at home as much as possible (especially high-risk individuals)

• Wear a face mask when in public

• Practice physical distancing (at least 6ft apart)

• Limit non-essential travel and recreate within your community

• Limit interactions with people outside of your household

• Limit gatherings to no more than 10 people

• Stay home when sick

High-risk populations, (over 65 years of age, pre-existing heart, lung or kidney disease, immune-compromised) are strongly encouraged to continue to stay at home except for essential errands.