With the highest COVID-19 incidence rate in Colorado, Pitkin County will close restaurant meals on Sundays and fully enter Red level restrictions.
Monday’s unanimous decision by the seven members of the Pitkin County Health Council also includes a 50% capacity limit for accommodation in Aspen and Snowmass Village and guarantees from Aspen Skiing Co. to improve the COVID-19 protocols.
The ski mountains will remain open without a reservation system for the time being, although indoor meals at mountain restaurants are disrupted.
“We communicate until our eyes fall,” said Pitkin County Commissioner Greg Poschman, also a member of the health council. “Even so, we still have a lot of people … who don’t agree with us.
“It’s time. We have to do this. It is painful. It is not forever.”
Outdoor dining, take-out and restaurant delivery will still be available, although there is a last call at 8 pm and the tables can only have people from the same house.
In-house restaurants and the lodging ceiling were the main changes made on Monday in the newest public health order, as most Pitkin County businesses and services – with the exception of restaurants – are operating under level restrictions. Red since December 21st.
The new public health order, which takes effect at 12:01 pm on Sunday, changes the metrics of when the county will enter and exit Red level restrictions and make them more tolerant than state guidelines. Pitkin County, however, is expected to experience a 14-day decline in the soared incidence rate before the county returns to Orange level restrictions.
The incidence rate reached 3,046 on Friday and stood at 2,934 on Monday, with the effects of Christmas and New Year’s not yet hit, according to Josh Vance, a county epidemiologist, and local epidemiological data.
“Three thousand in a 14-day period is extremely high,” said Vance.
The highest incidence rate in the state – the second closest Monday was Bent County at around 2,500 – means that 1 in 35 Pitkin County residents is infected with COVID-19, said Jordana Sabella, interim director of public health.
“We are not doing very well in disease prevention,” she said.
Vance said he did “a ton of research” on why Pitkin County is experiencing such a huge increase, while none of the county’s neighbors and most of the rest of the state are unsuccessful.
“I can’t give you a good answer right now,” he said. “We didn’t fall for any indicator.”
Monday’s hospitalization rate showed that two people were admitted to Aspen Valley Hospital on Sunday with COVID-19, when they are automatically placed in the ICU. The municipality’s positivity rate on Monday was 12.7%, according to local data.
Previously, the state of Colorado kept most counties transferred to Red at this level of restrictions for five to six weeks, Sabella said. At that time, the state required the incidence rate to be below 350 to get out of Red, although the governor recently moved all counties that were from Red to Orange due to declining incidence rates.
On Monday, the Pitkin County Health Council adopted a recommendation from the public health team to move to Red if the incidence rate stays above 700 for 14 days. The same thing would happen if the rate of positivity reached the limits of the Red level for 14 days and the rate of hospitalization reached these limits for only one day, or vice versa.
The county will move out of Red level restrictions and return to Orange when the incidence rate drops below 700 and has been decreasing for 14 days. Level 700 was chosen because county contact trackers and disease investigators can handle the number of cases associated with that number, said Vance.
In an effort to try to get restaurants and other local businesses to operate at the highest capacity possible, once the incidence rate decreases, the county will also begin preparations to start a state program that will allow them to operate with lesser restrictions, provided that agree with certain COVID 19 protocols.
County officials will apply to the state to initiate the so-called 5 Star Program and implement it for companies that wish to participate as soon as the incidence level drops, Sabella said. The program cannot take effect until the incidence rate decreases for 14 days and reaches below 700, the positivity rate is below 10% and less than 90% of hospital beds are in use.
As for skiing, the area’s four ski mountains will remain open, although indoor meals at mountain restaurants close on Sunday, when the rest of the county’s indoor meals are interrupted, according to the new public health order. Aspen Skiing Co. has pledged to improve the application of the face mask and social distance in the ski mountains, but will not implement a reservation system, said Pitkin County manager Jon Peacock.
That’s because Skico did not exceed the capacity limits outlined in its state-approved operating plan in November, not even for a day this season, Peacock said. These capabilities were blocked in a copy of the report provided to The Aspen Times because they were considered confidential information.
If the number of skiers starts to exceed those capabilities, Skico employees are prepared to implement a reservation system, he said.
The hosting industry has agreed to continue to enforce the one-unit-per-home rule, Sabella said. The exception to this rule used to allow two residences in the same unit if the reservation had been made by December. That exception no longer applies, and only one household per unit will be allowed under the new public health order, regardless of when the reservation was made, she said.
County officials will also monitor accommodation capacity in the city weekly and limit it to 50%, Sabella said.
Kurt Dahl, the county’s director of environmental health, told health council members that he was accused of improving the enforcement of public health orders and is looking for a model in the county’s Open Space and Trails rangers. The plans also include more accountability measures for companies that cater to private parties, such as DJs, party planners, suppliers, valets, property managers, party hosts and guests, he said.
Council members also decided not to create a publication for restaurants and other companies affected by outbreaks. Sabella said the problem had already been solved at the time of reporting, which would unnecessarily penalize companies if people used the post to avoid them. Such action can also discourage disease reporting. This information is posted on a state outbreak website.
Companies that receive quotes or other enforcement actions, however, may soon see those quotes published, Dahl said.
The Pitkin County communications team also plans to launch campaigns to promote restaurant delivery and better support businesses, publish the state’s public health department’s Pitkin County Bulletin issued three times a week online and publish the local epidemiological report. online, he said.
The authorities are also working to provide information to individuals and families about the assistance available to them from local, state and federal sources. Pitkin County will hold a community meeting on Thursday at 6 pm to discuss changes and available resources. (Go to covid19.pitkincounty.com For more informations.)
The fate of Aspen’s restaurants occupied most of Monday’s four-hour health council meeting.
Several local restaurant owners have spoken in favor of keeping them open at the current level of 25% of in-house restaurants.
Wendy Mitchell, owner of Meat and Cheese and Hooch, called for closing all businesses in the city for the shortest possible time to have the least impact.
“We are encouraging people to come here,” she said. “We are encouraging people to travel. You have to have all of these aspects in action and not just punish restaurants. “
However, other community members spoke in favor of the stricter restrictions.
“I’m on the front lines,” said Dr. Greg Balko, an AVH emergency room physician. “I see firsthand what is happening. We have to do something. We cannot continue doing what we are doing because the numbers continue to rise. “
Council members made a concession to restaurants, however. The new public health order went into effect on Friday, although the council postponed until Sunday to give restaurants more time to cook and sell perishable items in their kitchens.