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The growing number of COVID-19 cases as well as the four intensive care beds at the Aspen Valley Hospital full on Thursday, half of which with COVID-19 patients, was enough evidence for the Pitkin County Board of Health unanimously agrees to empower the director of public health to develop a new interior mask mandate.
The health council released the directive at its monthly and virtual meeting on Thursday. This does not mean that residents of Pitkin County are required to wear face coverings indoors on Friday, Saturday or Sunday or early next week. What this does mean, however, is that the county’s public health director, Jordana Sabella, is now tasked with creating an indoor mask warrant by next week if the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise. stabilize or worsen.
The extra time will also give the community and businesses time to digest the policy, which will be modeled on a similar mandate in Boulder and under guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Local hospitalization data will also be taken into account in the decision.
To get the warrant “done right and communicated properly,” Sabella said, extra days allowed to draft the order will help the county “to make sure we communicate what the policy is, to make sure it’s correct. and as good as it gets. the first time, and deploy it responsibly. “
Board chairman Greg Poschman, also a county commissioner, said: “I think the board can say ‘yes, let’s do it and let the director of public health make the call. “
Sabella met with officials at Aspen Valley hospital every Wednesday during the pandemic to better understand her operations. After next week’s meeting, and if trends continue, she will create the mandate that could come into effect as early as Thursday.
“This council, which dates back even two months now, has really talked about using this as the primary measure for our precautions in our community,” said the mayor of Aspen Torre in reference to hospital operations.
AVH was operating at “conservative” levels in the three categories it uses to determine its operational health during the pandemic. The hospital went from operating to a comfortable level in all three settings on Thursday, according to data presented at the meeting.
• Caution means that six to ten essential health workers at the hospital are discharged with COVID-19 or its symptoms.
• Daily hospital visits for the coronavirus were also considered prudent – the emergency department made an average of more than six COVID-19 visits per day during its last seven-day reporting period until ‘As of Wednesday, its respiratory assessment center was seeing at least 10 coronavirus patients per day, and its community testing center was performing at least 16 tests per day.
• The third measure, AVH hospitalization and transfer capacity, was also considered conservative as it was operating at 25-50% capacity in the most recent period.
The situation is made worse by what is happening elsewhere in hospitals in the region and state, noted David Ressler, CEO of Aspen Valley Hospital. The fuller the other hospitals, the harder it is for AVH – a 25-bed intensive care facility – to transfer patients to larger operations.
“It doesn’t take a lot to stress our system,” Ressler said Thursday. “So we don’t want to wait to be overwhelmed. We want to be candid with yourselves and the community about our position. And at the moment, we are cautious.
The board of health fought over the possibility of issuing a mask recommendation rather than a requirement. They concluded that even if a mandate would not be implemented, it would generate more support from residents and visitors than a recommendation.
“I support what puts the health and safety of the community first,” said Mayor Torre, who ignored the suggestion that the mandate would not carry much weight without enforcement.
Masks are currently required inside Aspen public schools and on public transportation, whether on a Roaring Fork Transportation Authority bus or a United Airlines flight. Unvaccinated people in settings with vulnerable or at-risk populations are also required to wear masks.
The most recent CDC directive is to wear a mask indoors in places where COVID-19 transmission rates are “significant” or “high.” Pitkin County is checking those boxes, officials said.
On Tuesday, Pitkin County’s incident rate of 253 cases per 100,000 people was nine times higher than at the same time last year, according to county epidemiologist Josh Vance.
The number of cases from residents of Pitkin County was 45 from September 1 to 7, compared with 40 from August 25 to 31, 41 from August 18 to 24 and 19 from August 11 to 17, Vance said.
Of the 145 positive cases during that period, 47 were in unvaccinated people, according to the Vance report, which noted that about 90% of residents of Pitkin County have received at least one vaccine.
Unless another municipality or county defeats it, Pitkin County would be the second government entity to issue a mask ordinance since Governor Jared Polis lifted the statewide mandate in may. The mandate does not apply to indoor businesses that fall under the fully vaccinated status if they require customers to prove that they are fully vaccinated.
Belly Up Aspen, a downtown concert hall, has no social distancing or face covering requirements, but patrons are only allowed entry if they present documentation to prove they have been fully vaccinated for at least 14 days. Companies that follow this model would not be required to adhere to the mask mandate; companies not using this model should put signs on the county mask warrant.
Council members acknowledged that this is an eventful month. The Food & Wine Classic begins Friday, with most of the event’s offerings held in outdoor tents at Aspen’s public parks. It also has testing sites and customers must present a vaccination check or negative test result. Ruggerfest is also on view this month, along with the Golden Leaf Half Marathon, Aspen Filmfest, and Aspen Autumn Words.
“We’re probably a week and a half behind on this point,” said Torre.
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