The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Looking at winter
By Mark Reaman
An update to the Crested Butte Town Council from Gunnison County Health and Human Services director Joni Reynolds this week revealed that she views the current good state of the county in terms of the coronavirus as a team effort.
No new positive test cases have been recorded in more than two weeks. The state has designated Gunnison County as one of just a few counties in Colorado with the “Protect Our Neighbors” level, which indicates low COVID-19 numbers and a solid plan to keep transmission of the virus in check.
“Joni has done an outstanding job in the county and the numbers prove it,” said mayor Jim Schmidt by way of introduction. “Gunnison County is doing outstanding, especially compared to the United States in general.”
“The work was done countywide,” responded Reynolds. “It has been a team effort. I am thrilled the state granted us the Protect Our Neighbors status. That took a while but it is an endorsement of our Coronameter.”
Reynolds emphasized that the new status wouldn’t mean a lot of major changes would come quickly but said the county had more freedom from state restrictions and they could follow the protocols listed under the Coronameter’s Blue level.
“We can now increase group sizes more than is allowed statewide,” Reynolds said. “County review processes are still in place but we all have to applaud the work being done at the school district and the university level with Western [Colorado University]. That was a concern once they started back with classes. Other university communities are struggling.”
Reynolds indicated there could be decisions coming soon to restrict some of the other campuses in Colorado to something like the “Safer at Home” level.
There will be a six game football season for Gunnison High School this fall, Reynolds said, and over all, the fact that the district schools and the university are relatively virus-free is something to be proud of.
Reynolds is working with Crested Butte Mountain Resort to help them prepare a safe plan for a ski season opening in November. In that vein there is work being done to plan for getting restaurants to a place where they can increase capacity above the current 50 percent maximum. Under the Protect Our Neighbors status, the county can increase restaurant capacity 5 percent every four weeks as long as the numbers remain stable. Reynolds said that should help the restaurants with smaller spaces.
Similar plans are being developed to increase the capacity for buses. While that might be easier to do with the Mountain Express that has shorter routes than the RTA that runs up and down the valley, the hope is to develop a plan to allow more riders this winter.
Reynolds said she and her team were working on a plan to get flu vaccines distributed efficiently and preparing for how to vaccinate people when a coronavirus vaccine is deemed safe. She expects that to happen in early 2021.
“The leadership in Crested Butte and the county has been great,” said Reynolds, who received accolades from the council. “This is my profession and it is my passion. I really believe in the work we’ve all done that has pushed us miles and miles to find a balance where we are living with COVID. It hasn’t gone away. It is still here.
“We have to remain vigilant and continue taking proper precautions. We need to do the things we have done to prevent the spread of the virus in this county,” Reynolds concluded.
