San Miguel County Updates Public Health Order! Effective May 1!

30 Apr San Miguel County Updates Public Health Order! Effective May 1!

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San Miguel County has updated the county’s Public Health Order to maintain the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s dial framework, basing capacity restrictions on familiar COVID-19 metrics including hospitalizations, incidence rate and positivity rate. The updated Public Health Order will go into effect tomorrow, May 1 at 1 am MST at which time the county will remain in Level Blue.

“Data on a state and national level have indicated that with even just one more month of the dial framework being implemented, our community will be significantly more protected through behavior and vaccination,” said Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sharon Grundy. “This order being enforced through the month of May will set us up for a healthy and protected summer ahead.”

On April 16, the CDPHE passed along management of the COVID-19 pandemic to the county level, enabling more responsive and precise regulation of the pandemic based on local information.

The most notable components to the Public Health Order include the following:

• Public transportation may operate up to 75% capacity, 6 feet of distance between households is recommended for routes exceeding 15 minutes of ride time.
• Events including more than 500 people must obtain written approval from Public Health by submitting an Event COVID Safety Plan to publichealth@sanmiguelcountyco.gov.
• Capacity restrictions for short-term lodging have been incorporated into the Public Health Order, maintaining 85% capacity in Level Blue, 100% capacity in Level Green.
• Face coverings are required by all those 10 years of age and older in public indoor spaces. Additionally, face coverings are required in outdoor spaces when physical distancing cannot be maintained.

The updated Public Health Order will remain in effect through May 31. The Board of Health and Public Health Director Grace Franklin will reevaluate the state of the COVID-19 health crisis and response within San Miguel County in late May to plan for June and beyond.

“The decision to maintain a county public health order was made based on state modeling data, regional conversations and support from the county’s Board of Health,” said Public Health Director Grace Franklin. “We are not free of this pandemic yet, but in maintaining proven and effective precautions and finalizing our mass vaccine clinics for adults and students, we can finish the school year and continue to protect our community.”

Moving forward, Public Health will release caseload updates once per week on Thursdays. Public Health has confirmed three new positive cases of COVID-19 from test results received from April 28 through 29. Of these cases, two are confirmed as residents and all actively contagious cases are currently in isolation.

As of release time today, there have been 868 total COVID cases among residents to date with 5 active cases.

To learn more about the county’s current COVID-19 metrics, please visit the County COVID-19 dashboard.

• 48-year-old female, non-resident
• 46-year-old female, resident, symptomatic, household
• 12-year-old female, resident, symptomatic, community

Five Commitments of Containment:

• Wear a mask
• Maintain six feet of physical distance
• Minimize group size
• Wash hands frequently
• Stay home when sick and get tested