CB Council grappling with measures to control coronavirus in town

Mountain Express suspension? Lower maximum capacity for restaurants?

By Mark Reaman

The Crested Butte town council held an emergency meeting Friday, March 13 and decided to recommend that the Mountain Express bus service be suspended. While considering whether to more stringently limit the number of people allowed in a restaurant from the county’s order of 50 to 25, the council instead will work with the Chamber of Commerce to get the word out that it is better to get food to go or delivered instead of dining in. Council also wants people to adhere to strict “social distancing” rules that recommend people stay at least six feet away from another.

A COVID-19 screening site is expected to be set up Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Crested Butte Community School Parking lot. The plan is to have the CB screening site open on Tuesday/Thursday, the Gunnison screening site open Monday/Wednesday/Friday. The county asks that all those considering whether they need a test call the Call Center hotline at 641-7660 before going to the CBCS screening center. Do the same before going to the hospital or your doctor.

The meeting was held to consider a resolution declaring a local disaster emergency given the confirmed cases of the coronavirus in town. The council passed that unanimously. They also passed an ordinance adjusting the emergency powers in the town code.

Among the ramifications of the council action is that current Board of Zoning and Architectural Review applications will be suspended until at least April 28. The issuance of any BOZAR approvals are halted until March 30. Council meetings will be held but councilmembers and the public can call into the meetings instead of attending them in person.

Town manager Dara MacDonald told the council that the staff was at the tier-4 phase of its response plan. This in part means that all town recreation programs are shut down and a skeleton crew will man town hall while most people will be encouraged to work from home. She said employees will be paid as normal during the crisis.

But the majority of the discussion was about how far to go to limit human contact in the town. While the county issued an order prohibiting gatherings of more than 50 people and that applied to restaurants and bars, some on the council said it didn’t go far enough.

“I would advocate for being way more restrictive,” said councilwoman Mona Merrill. “People don’t show symptoms for weeks. I’d go full quarantine if it were me. We have so many elderly people in the county and the numbers just shoot up every day. The county is saying there are probably 3,000 vulnerable people in the county. That is too many for our small population. How many ventilators or hospital beds are there in this valley? There aren’t enough to handle what is likely coming. I’d weigh more on the side of caution.”

“I agree with Mona. I think the county’s order is for businesses to self-police and that may not be enough,” said councilman Will Dujardin. “The fact that staff at a restaurant isn’t counted in the 50-person limit is also concerning.”

“We all know it’s here,” said Merrill. “Hopefully older people and those at risk have been self isolating. We don’t have the resources in this county for ten people to get pneumonia. The resources have to be here for the people who need it. I don’t know the right answer, but I feel it will get worse.”

Councilwoman Candice Bradley said state health officials had been in the county and probably helped craft the order. “I think a lot of work went into coming up with that 50 number,” she said.

“I appreciate Mona’s urgency,” said Dujardin. “There are less than 50 test kits in the county until March 28. I get the business argument and I get the health and safety argument. It is hard to find the right balance. We are all in a tough situation given spring break.”

“Businesses understand the gravity of this situation,” said Crested Butte-Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce director Ashley UpChurch. “They are taking precautions and being proactive. One concern is we are telling people to leave and businesses have had a tough season already.”

“We are gong to lose a dear member of our community from this if we don’t quarantine,” responded Merrill. “It’s the small amount of resources we have that is the problem. It is more important to do something stricter this week than wait two weeks. The numbers just climb so fast.”

“It’s basically seven more days of business in this ski season and then we’re done,” said UpChurch. “I think the restaurants would understand and make it work if you even lowered the limit to 25. We can do things like encourage take-out and gift cards. I agree it is a tough situation for everyone.”

“Maybe the six-foot social isolation aspect is the most important,” said Merrill.

“It’s the buses I worry about given that,” added mayor Jim Schmidt.

“The buses are where people are congregating. Maybe it is time to stop Mountain Express,” said council member Laura Mitchell. Mitchell is the chair of the Mountain Express board and said she would call an emergency meeting of that board to discuss the situation.

“I think business owners are serous about keeping their restaurants safe. And they come in all sizes,” noted councilman Chris Haver. “The fact is we have a ton of people here and they need to eat.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t tell them to close but enforce the social distancing,” said Dujardin.

The council did not make any decisions except to recommend suspencious of Mountain Express and wanting to be more stringent with social distancing numbers. Council has a regular council meeting scheduled for Monday. There will no doubt be more discussion then.