El Paso County must move to "red" severe risk status for COVID-19 effective Friday evening, a change that closes restaurants for indoor dining, and reduces offices and gyms to 10% capacity.
The state health department on Monday notified the county of the move, citing high levels of COVID-19 transmission in the community, as well as a high positive test rate and strained hospital capacity in the county, according to a news release from El Paso County Public Health.
"Most indoor activities will be prohibited or strictly limited, and outdoor activities are encouraged as an alternative," officials said in the release. The county declined to comment further on the move, referring inquires to the state.
El Paso County's move to red from the one-step lower "orange" high-risk level bans indoor dining at restaurants and limits outdoor dining to groups from the same household. Take-out orders and curbside delivery will still be allowed. Under level orange, restaurants were allowed to offer indoor dining, with a cap of 25% capacity or 50 people, whichever was less.
The move to a higher level also bans indoor events and personal gatherings. Under level orange, indoor events were capped at 50 people, and personal gatherings capped at 10 from two households. Earlier this month Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers said the city didn't have the resources to enforce public health orders.
Offices will be capped at 10% capacity, with remote work strongly encouraged, down from 25%. Gyms will be capped similarly.
The demotion will take effect at 5 p.m. on "Black Friday," after most shopping is likely done for the day. The move does not affect retailers, which are still allowed 50% capacity under state guidelines.
While the tighter restrictions take place Friday, the state is not giving El Paso county a "pass on Thanksgiving," a representative of the state's joint COVID-19 information line said in a statement to The Gazette.
"We need everyone — including the residents of El Paso County — to cancel gatherings with people they don’t live with, including Thanksgiving gatherings," the statement read.
As of Monday, the county had a COVID-19 incidence level of 1,150 per 100,000 over a two-week period and a positivity rate -- the percentage of positive tests among those tested -- of nearly 15%, triple the upper limit recommended by the World Health Organization for communities wishing to reopen.
The county's hospital status was red, meaning capacity is strained, according to data on the county health department's website.
As of Monday the county's hospital region, which includes four other counties in east-central Colorado, had 22% of ICU beds available, according to state data. UCHealth's southern Colorado hospitals had around 110 COVID patients, "the same as late last week," said Cary Vogrin, a spokeswoman for the hospital system.
A spokeswoman for Penrose St. Francis Health Services did not respond to an inquiry about capacity in the system's two Colorado Springs hospitals. A spokeswoman for Children's Hospital Colorado, Leila Roche, said Monday that system is "ready to support our community hospitals by taking on older adolescents and young adults whose conditions we can treat in our facility to free-up space at adult hospitals to allow them to care for more critically ill adults."
Other counties were moved into the red category last week. As of Monday evening 21 Colorado counties were classified as red, including Denver, Jefferson, Douglas, Adams, Boulder, Arapahoe, Weld, Pueblo and Alamosa.
On Nov. 17, however, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis introduced the new level of the state's color-coded coronavirus dial in which purple became the lockdown phase. Under the new dial framework, counties would only qualify for that level of stay-at-home order if hospital capacity "risks being breached," according to a new chart released by the state.
Once a county exceeds its current color/risk level, it enters into a two-week grace period and begins discussions with state officials about mitigation efforts. However, some counties have stayed in levels they've long surpassed.
As of Monday , El Paso County's two-week incidence rate had been at a qualifying level for red classification for three weeks, according to data on the county's website.
The state announced the county would move to level "orange" on Nov. 11, when it had already qualified for the level for almost a month. When the county was moved to "yellow" on Nov. 4, it had already qualified for "orange" for nearly three weeks and had met the benchmark disease incidence rate for a stay-at-home order for two days.
Suthers expressed doubt Monday that closing indoor dining and other new restrictions would successfully change the increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, because it is mainly informal gatherings that are responsible for spreading the virus, he said.
He noted that the move to level orange that lowered occupancy in restaurants and gyms as of Nov. 13 has not changed the trend in El Paso County. In general, the color-coded system has not earned or inspired public confidence, he said.
"I am becoming increasingly pessimistic that the government restrictions are going to solve this problem," he said.
He also said he does not think that level red's prohibition on informal gatherings is realistic or enforceable.
"The government is not going to knock on your door on Thanksgiving Day," he said.
However, the rise in the number of patients in regional hospitals is concerning, and residents need to make responsible decisions to stem the spread of the virus, he said.
"We just have to have a higher resolve to do the right thing," Suthers said.
Aaron Kaufman, manager of Accolade Fitness, said the gym would "take 10% (capacity) over 0%."
"I feel a lot of this was expected — not if, but when," Kaufman said of the new restrictions. "We were prepared for it. It's something we've been discussing, even before the orange level."
The gym at 4390 Arrowswest Dr. will remain open, but a reservation system required by public health order still needs to be worked out. The gym's westside location on South 8th Street closed Nov. 15 because of the cost of running two gyms.
Meredith Klube, business manager at Jack Quinn's Irish Pub in downtown Colorado Springs, said she was "extremely worried" about the ban on indoor dining.
“It will have a tremendous impact on our already struggling business," she said. "With the lowered capacity and the public fears about going out in general, it has already been quite difficult to keep functioning as a business."
Klube said the restaurant will remain open for takeout and delivery, and continue to serve on its outdoor patio. But it "will likely have to lay off the majority of our staff," she said. "It's heartbreaking. It's terrifying for them, as it is for us."
The key for Mark Soto, owner of Slow Downz Texas Creole, is to be creative to keep business going during the pandemic, even if that means pulling a trailer behind his Harley to deliver food.
Slow Downz has been a vendor at COATI Uprise, a food hall with kitchens at 514 S. Tejon St. But with the new restrictions, “it’s in our best interest to open the food truck again, keep the jobs going, and keep our brand going. But most of all for the love of it,” Soto said.
Gazette reporters Mary Shinn and Leslie James contributed to this report.
The Link LonkNovember 24, 2020 at 03:07AM
https://gazette.com/news/state-health-department-moving-el-paso-county-to-red-high-risk-status-effective-friday/article_73b2f30e-2dc7-11eb-8488-eb12d269129e.html
State health department moving El Paso County to 'red' high-risk status effective Friday - Colorado Springs Gazette
https://news.google.com/search?q=Red&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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