SM County: CDC Releases New Mask Guidelines for Activities Outdoors!

27 Apr SM County: CDC Releases New Mask Guidelines for Activities Outdoors!

San Miguel County offering Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson Clinics in Norwood and Telluride.

For corona vaccine info, visit here.

For up-to-date coronavirus information, visit here.

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The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced new guidance for face coverings in the outdoors. Specifically, if running, walking, hiking or biking alone, with members of their household or in small outdoor gatherings with fully vaccinated family and friends: fully vaccinated and unvaccinated people do not have to wear face coverings.

The CDC is maintaining advice on other safety measures, stating that all adults should continue wearing masks and staying six feet apart in large crowds of strangers, like outdoor performance or sporting events, indoor shopping malls and movie theaters or other locations where the vaccination and health status of others would be unknown. Medium and large gatherings, crowds and poorly ventilated spaces should still be avoided, officials said.

“The CDC determination is a wonderful step forward as data supports low transmission in the outdoors. As we learn more, we are able to adapt guidelines and restrictions to more quickly return to a sense of normalcy,” said Public Health Director Grace Franklin. “The data continues to support vaccines as our means to ending this pandemic as they significantly decrease the risk of transmission and infection, especially outdoors.”

San Miguel County will be hosting several vaccine clinics over the next week:

Pfizer vaccine clinics for ages 16 and older:

Thursday, April 29 at Norwood Library from 4 to 5 pm, https://bit.ly/3tZeT8N
Friday, April 30 at Telluride Intermediate School from 3 to 5 pm, https://bit.ly/2QkrpkE

Moderna vaccine clinics for ages 18 and older:

Saturday, May 1 at Telluride Intermediate School from 11 to 1 pm
Wednesday, May 5 at Telluride Intermediate School from 1:45-3:45

Johnson & Johnson vaccine clinics for ages 18 and older:

Saturday, May 1 at Telluride Intermediate School from 4 to 5 pm

For all those interested in receiving a Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccine, registration can be found on the county’s COVID website: bit.ly/smcvaccine.

Recipients of the Pfizer vaccine must be available for the second dose in order to receive the first, and there is no flexibility for vaccine dates and times. People who cannot commit to both dates should schedule at pharmacies outside of the county that offer the Pfizer vaccine.

San Miguel Public Health has confirmed five new positive cases of COVID-19 from test results received from April 23 through 26. Of these cases, three are confirmed as residents and all actively contagious cases are currently in isolation.

79-year-old male, resident, symptomatic, community
62-year-old male, non-resident
50-year-old female, non-resident
34-year-old female, resident, symptomatic, community
14-year-old female, resident, symptomatic, community

As of release time today, there have been 866 total COVID cases among residents to date with 3 active cases.

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
Stay home when sick and get tested