What does the Governor’s new COVID-19 ‘Safer-at-Home’ order mean, when Colorado is ringed by states which have never had strong protection orders?
Monday afternoon, Colorado Governor Jared Polis announced that, as of April 27, the state will shift out of its “stay-at-home” orders, enacted to protect residents from the coronavirus pandemic known as COVID-19, which expires April 26, to something called “safer-at-home.” The state can begin a gradual reopening, says the governor, because social distancing efforts have successfully slowed the spread of the coronavirus.
“It’s a time for calculated risks. It’s a time to be careful,” said Polis. “It’s a time to be safer at home when you can, but be able to live in a sustainable and fulfilling way. Psychologically, emotionally, economically, putting bread on your table, as we prepare for the long haul.”
Fully protected HRRMC employees test a person outside the Emergency Department. Thus far, no hospital workers have tested positive for the virus.
The governor went on to say residents will soon be able to get haircuts and dental procedures, but that businesses will have to take precautions. Office buildings could begin to plan to operate at 50 percent in-office staffing levels. He doesn’t think restaurants will be allowed to reopen until mid-May at the earliest.
Residents are advised to continue to wear masks in public and practice social distancing. (Tests show that without a mask, droplets from even a medium cough can travel eight to 10 feet on microthermal currents.)
He says a declining number of COVID-19 hospitalizations is allowing him to lift some restrictions, but gave no evidence of that statement. The governor says he’ll outline details further in the coming days. Oddly, the announcement comes on the day that the number of Colorado COVID-19 cases passed the 10,000 mark, bumping the state into the next category of infection.
The move also comes after Colorado experienced a Colorado version of the Liberate rallies that have popped up in several other states, this past weekend. While the two aren’t necessarily related, it appears to recognize people’s growing frustration, as small businesses struggle to survive and families face an economic crisis.
The governor’s decision appears to deflect the advice of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), because the state doesn’t yet have extensive testing resources. The CDPHE says some degree of social distancing will need to be in place for months to ensure that the state’s healthcare capacity is not exceeded.
“Until we have testing supplies available wide enough that we have a chance to detect the cases and have an epidemiology response, we’re just going to have to maintain social distancing,” said CDPHE Executive Director Jill Ryan.
Asked if Colorado’s compliance with the current social distancing adherence has been enough, she answered that it is at close to 80 percent. According to the CDPHE, because of a lack of testing, it estimates that between 65,000 and 75,000 Coloradans have, or have had, COVID-19, whether they knew it or not.
Risks from Outside the State
Still, Colorado’s “safer-at-home” step comes with risk – and that risk is not all within the state.
The bump in coronavirus cases in this past week has been most pronounced in states that haven’t any stay at home orders. Oklahoma saw a 53 percent increase in cases over the past week. Cases jumped 60 percent in Arkansas, 74 percent in Nebraska, and 82 percent in Iowa. South Dakota saw a whopping 205 percent spike. The remaining states, North Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming each saw an increase in cases, but more in line with other places that have stay-at-home orders. All of those numbers may very well undercount the total cases, given a persistent lack of testing across the U.S.
Notice anything? Many of these states border Colorado, or represent direct lines via Interstate highways from hotspots there to Colorado: Grand Island, Nebraska; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Salt Lake City, Utah; Tulsa, Oklahoma. The governors in each of these states insist that their own approach, short of a stay-at-home order, is the best way to combat the virus for their individual states — for the time being, at least.
Certainly, Colorado, which saw our first hotspot erupt in Eagle County, brought there by out-of-state skiers, recognizes that it is a myth that rural areas can’t experience a COVID-19 health crisis. Opening too soon, and allowing out-of-state visitors, could plunge mountain counties back into COVID-19 crisis at the peak of the summer tourism season.
As Midwest and Western states know, while the American heartland is far less dense than New York and other cities and states on the coasts, it is home to much of the country’s agricultural and manufacturing base. The threat coronavirus poses to those sectors of the economy has begun to arrive. What this threat means as Colorado begins this transition out of our strict stay-at-home orders, we may soon find out.
Doomsday is cancelled. Let’s get on with it folks.
Mark, your opinion appears to be in the minority as the coronavirus known as COVID-19 continues its march; now affecting more than a million Americans, with a death rate of over 63,000 and rising. This “novel” virus is brand new, has no cure, and precious little effective treatment. Making light of the severity of this virus could only be called politically-motivated. The fact is that many of us, including me, have lost people we love to COVID-19. This is real. These are lives. We are grieving.
To tell people to “get on with it folks” is disrespectful of our personal and collective pain. People with compromised immune systems (and I am one of them) are rightfully fearful and furious that our own government attempted to ignore it, minimized it, and now appears to have incited some of you to value the almighty dollar over human life. There was another regime that valued power over people’s lives that ended in 1945.
This is a hard choice for Governor Polis, but I hope he’s not caving to a relatively small part of the population. Consider how many people will be infected by loosening the stay at home measure without adequate testing measures in place and opening businesses like salons. Lives should mean more than this. Social distancing is wonderful on the surface, but the employees will be at risk as much as the patrons. We need to wait until we have a shot at adequate testing and our numbers are showing a decrease as the White House measures are met. Don’t play with precious lives based on president Trump’s financial concerns about the economy and his calling for these “liberation” demonstrations. Please take time to protect the citizens of Colorado by at least making the use of masks in public stricter and stress the social distancing required. Can’t we the people of Colorado figure some way to aid those who have lost their jobs and need to make a living. I’m so glad that I am not facing this situation, so I will continue to respect Governor Polis and his decisions now, even if it seems premature. Think hard, dear Governor Polis.