15 Jan SM County: Face Coverings & Vaccination; Efficacy of Both!
San Miguel Public Health announced that the use of face coverings is proving to be nearly as effective as vaccination. CDPHE testing returns.
For more information surrounding COVID resources, testing and the concern form, visit here.
For more information surrounding the state’s COVID-19 dial, visit here.
Grace Franklin, County Public Health Director.
As vaccine administration continues at a steady pace in line with state allocation, data across the State of Colorado reveals effective use of face coverings and physical distancing could reduce hospitalizations more rapidly than vaccine administration. Together, these three transmission control tools could significantly decrease hospitalizations all together.
Data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CPDHE) shows that face coverings and social distancing more significantly reduce the number of hospitalizations than vaccinations at the current rate of administration. Due to supply and distribution limitations, the learnings from this data reveals that, together, vaccines, face coverings and physical distancing could reduce hospitalizations to nearly zero in the remaining months of the pandemic.
“The behaviors we have come to practice regularly have worked and will continue to work if we employ them implicitly. Our low rate of hospitalization can be partially attributed, through this new data, to face coverings and physical distancing,” said Public Health Director Grace Franklin. “Because vaccine administration is limited due to supply, the five commitments remain critical to our containment efforts now and into the future.”
The five commitments include wearing a face covering, maintaining six feet of physical distance, washing one’s hands regularly, minimizing group size according to current restrictions and staying home when sick. These tools employed with level-headed considerations of daily activities, such as indoor dining, retail shopping and social gatherings, could eliminate the spread of COVID throughout the county. When considering indoor activities, Public Health encourages residents to avoid close contact, crowds and confined spaces.
While San Miguel County Public Health continues to expand free testing opportunities, the CDPHE’s high-capacity Rapid Response Testing will return to the county next Tuesday, January 19 at the Norwood Pig Palace and Wednesday, January 20 at the Telluride Airport. Registration information can be found on the San Miguel County COVID testing page. As announced previously, this will supplement the new weekly testing in Lawson Hill.
Public Health has confirmed 27 new positive cases of COVID-19 from test results received from January 13 through 15. Of these cases, 23 are residents and all actively contagious cases are currently in isolation. There have been 519 total COVID cases among residents to date with 45 active cases as of 3 pm MST.
To learn more about the county’s current COVID-19 metrics, please visit the County COVID-19 dashboard.
Five Commitments of Containment:
Wear a mask
Maintain six feet of physical distance
Minimize group size
Wash hands frequently
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