The recent surge in COVID-19 cases in Chaffee County, with most cases due to the spike at the Buena Vista Corrections Complex (BVCC), this week prompted Gov. Jared Polis to list it as one that may need to tighten restrictions. But that request would seem to be undeserving, and it has worried Chaffee County and municipal leaders, who say that remarks like that could impact our critical tourism business.
Chaffee County Public Health (CCPH) Director Andrea Carlstrom explained that the increases are due to the outbreak at the BVCC and that scaling back in not necessary, with the county still following “Safer at Home” guidelines. On Monday, July 20 mindful of its variances (which it applied for prior to the “Safer at Home” stage) and the possibility of misinterpretation, Chaffee filed a report with the State of Colorado pointing out that most cases are based in the prison, not the community, which has worked hard to achieve its low infection rates.
Carlstrom updated the latest COVID-19 cases, reporting one new community case infection for a 71-year-old Buena Vista resident, symptomatic and recovering at home, bringing the total actual community cases since the start of the pandemic to 34 (Original case numbers included the closed environment of Columbine Manor.) New cases also included a 74-year-old woman from the south end of the county, an asymptomatic person of unknown origin, and a 63-year-old man, from the south end of the county, with symptoms representing a person-to-person infection.
Carlstrom listed the following totals for the county in a July 23 press release:
Total County positives: 227. This includes 19 deaths (since the beginning of the pandemic) listed as probable, including 14 attributed directly to COVID-19.
Buena Vista Correctional Complex: 137 cases, including 132 inmates and five staff members. Two new Chaffee County Department of Corrections staff since Monday.
Columbine Manor Care Center: 56, including 44 residents and 12 staff.
Not counted in those current totals are 15 cases of out of county residents who were tested and found positive in Chaffee County but who may have been tourists or who work locally but live elsewhere. Adding those in as cases detected in Chaffee County would put the total cases above 240.
Image courtesy City of Salida
Carlstrom also addressed concerns over testing delays since the surge in Colorado cases.
“CCPH is experiencing a delay in receiving test results from its community testing sites. Test results are taking seven to 10 days from the state laboratory,” she said. “CCPH has been informed that the state health department has increased its capacity to meet the need. Those who have been tested must continue to follow isolation and quarantine expectations while waiting for their test results unless they have surpassed the recommended time frame. CCPH appreciates everyone’s patience as we continue to navigate situations that are not in our control,” she added.
Carlstrom added CCPH is creating a data dashboard to give more detailed information regarding data trends and will be releasing it in the near future.
At Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center, (HRRMC) Carlstrom reported, they received a second positive result for an employee last week.
This was a non-work-related, off-site exposure. The employee was not at any HRRMC facility and was quarantined at home for the potentially infectious period prior to testing positive. HRRMC staff were made aware of the positive case. After careful internal assessment, HRRMC determined there was no risk of exposure to patients and staff.
As of July 23, she reported, HRRMC had no COVID-19 positive nor PUIs hospitalized and was running at 68 percent capacity or 17 inpatients.
Also as of July 23, HRRMC has performed 1,496 total tests. 49 have been positive, 1,411 negative, and 36 pending. From that total, 92 employees have been tested, with 90 negative results, and two positive results.
In addition to monitoring the BVCC outbreak, which is the second largest in the state prison system, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported the virus has sickened at least 24 inmates at Colorado State Penitentiary near Cañon City. The Cañon City outbreak is the latest outbreak in the prison system.
Department of Corrections spokeswoman Annie Skinner was quoted as saying testing of inmates and staff is expected to continue for several weeks to determine how widely the coronavirus spread. The prison now houses about 750 inmates.
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