Facial masks will be required in all public indoor environments in Pitkin County for all people 2 years of age or older, regardless of the state of vaccination starting Thursday, county public health authorities said Wednesday.
Companies or facilities that choose to implement a mandatory immunization policy for employees and guests may receive an exemption from the indoor mask order if the Pitkin County Department of Public Health approves it as a facility in its entirety. vaccinated.
The order, which will take effect at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, does not apply to private homes.
“By adopting an inner mask order now, we can preserve the resources of our health care system, protect the health of our community, and have the best chances of preventing capacity constraints and high-impact social distancing in the future. “Jordana Sabella, the county’s public health director, said in a press release.
For those who could see the mandate of the mask, which would come after the JAS Labor Day concerts at Snowmass and the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, as local punishers, as tourists have gone mostly, the county manager of Pitkin, Jon Peacock, noted that officials have been “telegraphing” the possibility of a mask warrant since mid-summer.
“Masks are not a punishment,” he said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. “They are protection. They are mandated to protect our local community. Start with a mask “.
During last week’s monthly meeting, the Pitkin County Health Board last week directed Sabella to draft an interior mask order for public spaces this week if the COVID-19 case count did not decrease. They haven’t done it and in fact they’ve increased in the last seven days.
“We didn’t expect … anything rushed to change,” Dave Ressler, CEO of Aspen Valley Hospital, said Wednesday at the briefing. “We haven’t seen any significant change.”
The incidence rate in Pitkin County on Monday reached 298 per 100,000 people, nearly three times the rate of transmission that disease control centers consider “high” and the highest so far in the delta wave of cases. , according to Pitkin County’s online COVID-19 statistics boards.. The rate fell to 276 on Tuesday, though it equates to the highest rate in the past two weeks.
The county has 61 new cases of COVID-19 in the past seven days, which included 49 residents and 12 cases outside the county, according to online dashboards. The daily number of new cases in the county has ranged from about 40 to 50 for residents in the last two weeks, while the number of out-of-county cases has remained at about 10 to 15 per day for the same period. of time.
The latest COVID-19-related death occurred over the weekend at Aspen Valley Hospital, when an elderly person, completely vaccinated, died, sources said. A total of five Pitkin County residents have died from the virus since the pandemic began in March 2020.
Despite the death of a fully vaccinated person, public health officials continued to urge people to get the vaccines, stressing that they offer the best protection against serious illness, hospitalization and death.
The action of the health board a week ago also came after AVH decided to go from “comfortable” to “cautious” for the first time in months. As of Wednesday, the prudent appointment remained in place, with between six and ten essential health workers with COVID-like symptoms, between six and 10 average daily visits from COVID patients and 25% to 50% of the hospital capacity and transfer capacity.
Public health and AVH officials decided to remain cautious during a meeting Wednesday, Sabella and Ressler said. A major part of that decision was the fact that it is becoming increasingly difficult to transfer COVID-19 patients who need a higher level of care to Denver and Grand Junction hospitals, Sabella said.
As of Friday, only 12 percent of ICU beds were available statewide, Ressler said.
“Clearly, system-level capacity issues are important,” he said, noting that although AVH was able to transfer a patient this weekend, he remained concerned about these capacity issues.
On Wednesday, one of AVH’s four ICU beds was occupied by a COVID-19 patient, while another was occupied by a patient who did not have COVID, Ressler said.
The CDC has recommended universal universal masking since July 27, when it warned that the delta variant COVID-19 was twice as contagious as the alpha variant. Pitkin County public health officials seconded that advice, even though, at best, an inner mask was worn in Aspen and across the county and state.
Pitkin County becomes the fourth county in Colorado to implement an interior mask mandate, behind Boulder, San Juan and San Miguel counties, after Governor Jared Polis lifted the state’s interior mask mandate in May.
In Pitkin County, the new order will require masks inside during periods of high and substantial transmission. Once the rate drops to moderate or low levels for 21 consecutive days, the mask requirement will automatically return to a recommendation. If the cases raise substantial or elevated transmission levels again for five consecutive days, the mask requirement would re-enter into force until the transmission level drops again, according to the press release.
High transmission means an incidence rate of 100 or more cases per 100,000 population, while substantial transmission is considered to occur when the rate lands between 50 and 99 cases, according to CDC guidelines. Moderate transmission is defined as an incidence rate of 10 to 49 cases, and low transmission occurs when 10 or fewer cases per 100,000 inhabitants are detected.
Masks will be required on public transportation, public and private offices, retail stores, restaurants, bars, event centers, gyms, recreation centers and any other indoor space that allows the general public, the county said. Masks are not required anywhere outdoors.
“Public health also recommends that companies and facilities move outdoor activities whenever possible, or increase ventilation by opening doors and windows, running air conditioning, or installing portable air filters. “, indicates the communiqué. “Only secondly after vaccination, the adoption of an inner mask order is an extremely effective tool to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and establish a universal expectation for the use of masks throughout the community.” .
Businesses and facilities that want to implement a mandatory immunization policy for employees, guests, or customers, so no indoor masks are required, can begin applying to the Pitkin County Department of Public Health. ’11 October.
“This is a voluntary program that allows companies to develop their own policies to encourage and require vaccines while meeting their specific demographic, community and business needs,” according to the statement. “All companies must receive explicit approval as an approved Pitkin County Public Health Center.”
In Wednesday’s briefing, Sabella said the Department of Public Health would not collect vaccine information for employees of companies applying for the program. However, they will seek a detailed policy on how this information is securely communicated, collected and stored, he said. Sabella suggested that companies consult legal advice to develop the best individual plan.
The exact criteria for the program will be posted on Pitkin County’s COVID-19 website in the coming weeks, he said. Companies can apply for the program online.
Companies or facilities that already require guests and employees to provide vaccination tests and plan to continue this policy can contact [email protected] to get an exception to the mask order.
You can find more information about the mask order at https://covid19.pitkincounty.com/mask-recommendations/#details.