Pueblo announces end of curfew and start of neighborhood alerts for COVID-19 in wastewater

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) – Two pandemic-related developments on Wednesday included the end of a restriction and the announcement of what Mayor Nick Gradisar called “an early COVID warning system in the neighborhood.”

At an afternoon press conference, Gradisar said he was ending the nighttime curfew he imposed two months ago, in a bid to reduce the spread of the virus in bars and other places.

The move comes as positive cases have fallen in the past two weeks.

“I hope this trend will continue,” Gradisar said. “If we see different activity, I certainly reserve the right to reimpose the curfew. But my intention at this point is not to reimpose the curfew.”

The mayor was asked if he thinks the curfew is working overall, even though some of the city’s highest COVID numbers have occurred during it.

“I think it worked,” he said. “It’s hard to say how much this has helped drive our numbers down. But it has limited movement of people. If we hadn’t had the curfew, our numbers could have been even worse.”

Gradisar also revealed that, starting next month, the city will launch a reverse 911 alert for neighborhoods with high levels of viruses in wastewater.

“We have been testing wastewater in our seven basins since August,” he said. “We sent the results to Colorado State University. Testing found there was a strong correlation with high levels of the virus in sewage and a high number of positive COVID cases.”

The mayor said when virus levels increase in the sewage, affected neighborhoods will receive a reverse 911 alert from the police department’s emergency operations center.

“Residents will be reminded to wear a mask, practice social distancing and take a free COVID test at one of our two sites,” he said. “They will also be asked to self-isolate until they recover their test results.”

Gradisar said the system will hopefully provide early warning and allow residents to take necessary action to protect themselves.

“This gives us five days of delay,” he said. “It could help get the tests done earlier and reduce the risk of the community spreading.”

The mayor said around 20 communities are testing wastewater, but Pueblo is the only one to take the extra step of including an alert system.

“As for the variant of COVID-19 that has appeared in Colorado, I don’t think it will be detected in sewage,” he said. “I think it will show up as COVID-19. If spikes in the sewage lead to further testing, I think we have the capacity to handle it.”