COVID numbers see a small spike

Vaccines continue to come to the county

[ By Mark Reaman ]

A new spike in the number of positive coronavirus test results was seen this last week in Gunnison County. From March 24-March 30 a total of 15 positives were recorded. That compares to just two positives in the 10 days prior.

“The numbers are still good but given that people might be feeling a little relaxed after hearing about the low number of cases and the high number of vaccines administered in the county, this bump is not that surprising,“ explained Gunnison County public information officer Andrew Sandstrom. “We have seen the positives at both ends of the valley. This indicates that that the disease is still with us and that we are not yet at a level of herd immunity to keep spread totally at bay in our community. This is a great reminder that we are not done with all of the prevention measures that have been in place.”

The positives are not a result of last weekend’s community testing events held in Gunnison on Friday and Crested Butte on Saturday. While 23 people got tested in Gunnison and 64 in Crested Butte, only two came back positive or about 2 percent.

“We are currently in the state’s green level of restrictions while our case rate per capita is now in the blue level of their metrics,” said Sandstrom. “It is possible the state could move us back to their blue level, but we haven’t had any communications with them on this.”
As for the continuing push for vaccinations, Sandstrom said they are continuing at a good pace. “We received 1,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson this week for a special clinic at Western. We continue to get a steady supply of Pfizer and Moderna as well. As of Friday, the state has indicated that we will be moving to Phase 2 of vaccinations, meaning anyone over 16 will be eligible. We will continue to pull from the groups that have a risk due to health conditions, age, or occupation prior to randomly selecting names from the general public who do not list any risk.“

Given the amount of vaccines continuing to come to Gunnison County, Sandstrom says the goal is still to get 10,000 people vaccinated in the county. That would lead to a further loosening of health restrictions. He said it would likely be the end of May before the county is able to fully vaccinate 10,000 people.