The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“We all want to be done with it but the virus is not done with us”
[ by Mark Reaman ]
Even as coronavirus cases increase significantly across the state as we move into fall, Gunnison County continues to be one of the most open counties in Colorado in terms of COVID-19 restrictions. And that is despite a slight uptick in local positive test results including four that came in from tests conducted Friday, October 23.
While more than a dozen new positive test results have come back locally in the last couple of weeks, the numbers here remain relatively low and there have been no new hospitalizations in months. The 16 recent positive tests recorded since mid-October are located at both ends of the valley. While there is no trending pattern, one element that is consistent is that many of the new positives are generally related to travel. Several of the people who tested positive recently travelled outside the county or interacted with a traveler coming in.
“The state is not in a great place but we are doing relatively well,” said Gunnison County public information officer Andrew Sandstrom. “It is all around us. The state is looking at us and considering a move to tighter restrictions but [Public Health director Joni Reynolds] will soon be meeting with state health officials about our numbers.”
Based on the recent data, Gunnison County has an incidence rate of 57 people per 100,000 people. While this isn’t too bad, the state regulators consider having more than 25 positive people per 100,000 (or more than eight positive results in two weeks) as too many to be in the Protect Our Neighbors classification that has looser restrictions.
Under state rules, a county that breaches that metric has three weeks to bring the numbers back down. Gunnison County is one week into that timeframe.
“Joni will be meeting with state officials on a mitigation plan to reverse the uptick,” said Sandstrom. “While we’re not in a bad place right now, without community effort that could change quickly, especially in a small community where just a few cases can throw everything out of whack. When the state was developing its metrics, Joni expressed concern that in small communities, the incidence rate will naturally bounce around. But under current state regs, missing just one metric would push us out of the Protect Our Neighbor level and put us under more restrictive measures.”
As it stands, Gunnison County can continue to have larger outdoor gatherings of up to 250 people with an event review; indoor capacity at places such as restaurants can be at 55 percent, which is more than most of the rest of the state. In fact Denver on Tuesday implemented restrictions limiting restaurants to 25 percent capacity.
Several Colorado counties this week were put under more stringent restrictions due to their case numbers. Even Mesa County, which was in the same Protect Our Neighbors category as Gunnison County, was moved to the Safer at Home level. Every Safer at Home level limits personal gatherings to 10 or fewer people from no more than two households.
“We really are in decent shape locally but there are spikes happening all around us. The problem becomes how to inspire the community to keep doing the good work,” explained Sandstrom. “We all are fatigued with this thing. All of us are over it. We all want to be done with it but the fact is the virus is not done with us. The ultimate outcome comes down to individual choices.”
Sandstrom said Gunnison County is now considered in the “mitigation phase” of the Protect Our Neighbors level but that still means we are fairly open compared to other locations in the state and the country. “We have done some incredible stuff and as much as we’ve heard it, the fact is we have to stay vigilant. Wear your mask, stay socially distanced and stay aware. Think long-term reward and protect the opportunity to have a ski season this winter,” Sandstrom concluded. “We all have to keep working as a community to keep the tide turning in our favor.”
