Pitkin County will return to COVID-19 Orange level restrictions at 12:01 pm on Tuesday, according to a daily epidemiological report and a press release distributed on Monday afternoon.
Among other changes, the update will allow restaurants to restore meals indoors and lift the ban on the red level of personal meetings.
“The county’s 14-day incidence rate dropped to less than 700 cases per 100,000 people this morning,” says Monday’s report. “Red level restrictions will be lifted starting tomorrow.”
Thanks to the rapid decline in the incidence rate, Pitkin County health officials were able to relax the restrictions just two weeks after the red level limitations took effect in Pitkin County on January 17; the Health Council voted to enter the red level on the state’s COVID-19 dial on January 11.
As of Monday afternoon, the county had an incidence rate of 642 cases per 100,000 people over a 14-day period, according to the report compiled by the public health department.
“It is excellent news that our incidence rate has fallen and companies are able to operate at greater capacity,” said Greg Poschman, Pitkin County Commissioner and Vice President of the Health Council, in a press release. “However, this is no time to let your guard down. It is not over yet, and despite this decline, things should get worse before it gets better. Let’s keep our community safe by being smart. We need to continue to follow the five containment commitments and avoid closed spaces, crowded places and close contact environments. This is what we all need to do to keep our community open until vaccines are more widely available. “
The announcement of orange restrictions is good news for local businesses that will benefit from more flexible restrictions and for the mayor of Aspen Torre and the mayor of Snowmass Village, Bill Madsen, who tried to get the Health Council to revert to the orange level restrictions in Pitkin County at a January 28 meeting.
Torre and Madsen had no votes from other board members to remove the red-level limitations, but they will see their efforts nonetheless on Tuesday. Acting Director of Public Health Jordana Sabella had suggested the possibility of a return to Orange at last Thursday’s meeting.
Restaurants can once again offer indoor meals at 25% capacity according to Orange level guidelines, with last call at 22h. Red level restrictions defined the last call for 8 pm and prohibited indoor dining, presenting challenges for restaurants with limited outdoor space. In addition, the dining limit for 10 people is not limited by domestic requirements.
The Pitkin County Restaurant Alliance will analyze how the return to Orange level restrictions will affect a lawsuit that the organization opened last month with the aim of undoing the Red Health Council’s order, according to the group’s lawyer, Chris Bryan. A district judge scheduled the hearing for February 19.
Gyms and gyms can return to 25% of capacity (previously they were limited to 10%); personal services will continue to operate at 25% capacity and retail will continue to operate at 50% capacity, with greater collection and delivery on the sidewalk.
Companies can also apply to participate in the Pitkin County 5-star State Certification Program, which grants site-specific variations to the public health order to establishments that implement an extensive list of additional COVID-19 security measures.
Informal meetings – banned by the restrictions of the Red level – will also be allowed with a maximum of 10 people from two different families.
An incidence rate below 700 and 14 consecutive days of decline was the path to orange level restrictions. The Health Council approved the metric at the January 11 meeting – the previous Red level limit was 350 – allowing the county to loosen restrictions, as long as the other two metrics for coronavirus restrictions (positivity rate and hospitalization rate) also did not reach the Red level limits.
The county would have to have an incidence rate above 700 for 14 consecutive days (or have any two of the three metrics reach the limits of the Red level in one day) to return to the Red.
The Health Council approved these metrics on Jan. 11 because any incidence rate above 700 cases per 100,000 people exceeds the public health department’s ability to track contacts. Ensuring that exposed contacts are tested and quarantined through contact tracking is a key component of the county’s “fit” strategy for virus mitigation.
The decline in the incidence rate occurred much faster than the authorities predicted, but it narrowly missed the orange level restrictions on Sunday, when the incidence rate was recorded as 732 in the daily epidemiological report. Monday’s report updated the incidence rate from January 31 to 777.
Monday’s incidence rate of 642, indicating that one in 156 people in Pitkin County tested positive for COVID-19 over a 14-day period.
That’s just a fraction of the incidence rate on January 17, the day the red level restrictions came into effect. The January 17 incidence rate was 2,759; one in 36 people in Pitkin County tested positive for COVID-19 in the previous two weeks, according to an epidemiological report of January 30.
Pitkin County recorded 8-11 days of decreasing or stable hospitalizations according to the state’s data panel and a 14-day positive rate of 5.3%, according to Monday’s epidemiological report. Both metrics are within the Yellow level on the state coronometer.
The lower positivity rate is another good sign: among those looking for the test, less are actually testing positive for COVID-19. Taken together, the decline in both metrics – positivity rate and incidence rate – indicates a lower risk of transmission in the community.