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As COVID-19 is on the verge of spiraling out of control in La Plata County, it is up to the community to put the pandemic in check by following new, more stringent public health regulations that come into effect on Friday, according to San Juan Basin. Public Health.
La Plata County reported 242 positive cases in the past two weeks as of Tuesday morning. That’s more than the county has reported from the start of the pandemic in March through early August.
On Tuesday, La Plata County reported a total of 628 cases and three “deaths among” people with COVID-19 at the time of the death since March. One of the deaths among the cases was reported this week. (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not single out those who died directly from COVID-19 until a county reaches 10 deaths.)
“It shows how fast it’s accelerated,” said Brian Devine of SJBPH.
Also on Tuesday, an outbreak of COVID-19 cases was reported to the 911 dispatch center in Durango after three employees tested positive, and an additional employee may have been exposed, according to a statement from the city of Durango.
Necessary staff are tested and isolated if necessary, and there has been no interaction with the public. The city of Durango said the operations of the 911 center had not been affected by the outbreak.
Due to the increase in cases, the SJBPH is in the process of moving La Plata County to more restrictive public health protection known as the ‘orange level’.
Among the most significant changes, the legal capacity to operate of most businesses, restaurants, workplaces and non-essential events is reduced from 50% to 25%. Employers are urged to let staff members work remotely whenever possible, Devine said.
“If it hasn’t been in your business before, it probably will be,” he said. “We need … employees to work from home as much as possible.”
The final booze call has been moved from 11:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. to reduce late-night social gatherings, where face covers are typically not worn and people interact with members outside their homes.
And the SJBPH issues a public health advisory, which is only a recommendation, that any indoor public gathering (such as going to a restaurant) or private indoor gathering be limited to a single household. People are also asked to stay home after 10:30 p.m.
The changes, Devine said, have been a consistent strategy since the start of the pandemic: The more people stay at home and reduce social interactions, the less the virus can spread within the community.
“Because we have so many diseases prevalent in the community, this is unfortunately necessary,” he said.
Tim Walsworth, executive director of the Durango Business Improvement District, said many companies are bracing for the changes, given the increase in local cases. But the changes are going to be tough on businesses, especially as the holiday season approaches.
“It really touches all aspects of our community right now,” he said.
Several factors are behind the recent increase in cases, Devine said.
The weather has been colder, leading to more gatherings indoors, where some studies indicate he is 20 times more likely to contract the virus, Devine said. Recent contact tracing found that many cases were linked to indoor Halloween parties where people from multiple households would congregate.
“It’s easy to spread disease to a lot of people when you throw a party,” Devine said.
Many positive cases have been attributed to people hanging out in restaurants and bars late at night. Several other people fell ill from watching sports indoors with friends outside of their homes.
Devine said a troubling trend is for groups of friends and colleagues to treat each other like pods. But if a person becomes ill, the virus can spread “very quickly” in the group because no precautions are taken.
While the Department of Health notices that most demographics are on the rise, Devine said the increase in cases among people aged 18 to 35 stands out in the data.
Another cause of the recent surge, Devine said, is workplaces that don’t have much public interface where employees are not monitored and may feel like they don’t have to take care. precautions such as wearing a face mask.
Devine said COVID-19 is spreading “exponentially”, so when there is an acceleration of transmission in a community, an outbreak can occur quickly.
La Plata County has been able to keep positive cases at bay since the outbreak of the pandemic, despite short-lived spikes in April and July, Devine said. But this current outbreak far exceeds those previous highs.
“We have to get them under control,” he said.
La Plata County’s positivity rate (the number of positive tests divided by the total number of tests) has remained low. As of the week of October 25, the rate was 3.68%, below the target rate of 5%. By comparison, the state’s seven-day positivity rate was 11.66% on Tuesday.
Devine said the positivity rates, however, are not a great indicator of the spread of the virus, and are rather useful in showing how many tests are available within a given community.
Devine said health and medical experts are better prepared for an outbreak than they were previously during the pandemic.
Now, health experts have a better understanding of how the virus is spread and who is most at risk. Medical treatments have improved, resulting in shorter hospital stays, and the ability to perform tests has expanded dramatically.
But the success of the fight against the recent outbreak will depend mainly on how the community reacts and adhere to the stricter health regulations that must be enforced on Friday, Devine said.
The effectiveness of public health orders generally has a delayed response time. The hope is that positive cases will start to slow down, Devine said, and the fear is that cases will continue to climb, forcing health officials to wonder what to do next.
The next level of restrictions is the “red level,” essentially a stay-at-home order.
Devine said the SJBPH is keen to avoid this level of restriction at all costs and is looking to Front Range communities where conditions warrant an order to stay home, while discussing alternative measures.
Devine said La Plata County has proven it can weather the pandemic while still maintaining a sense of normalcy, as evidenced by months of low cases amid a busy tourist season and reopening of schools .
“The community has already shown that we can choose to be successful,” he said. “We have to make this choice again as a community. We cannot afford to choose to fail. “
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