As Chaffee County heads into the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, there is an urgent message from our county leaders of public health; before you do anything, think; ‘Is this thing I’m thinking of doing really necessary’? If it isn’t — says county leaders — don’t do it.
The seven-minute video message issued around noon on Monday, Nov. 23 from the Chaffee County Public Health Director Andrea Carlstrom and the Chair of the Chaffee Board of County Commissioners and the Chaffee Board of Health Greg Felt laid out in stark terms what the county is facing. If we can’t flatten the current trajectory of COVID-19 cases, our county will be forced to move to COVID-19 Level Orange; which will require shutdowns of businesses and schools.
Currently the county is in the Yellow – caution – stage of the state’s COVID-19 dial with some orange restrictions. Carlstrom has described us as a doughnut hole in the middle of counties most of whom have been in Orange, with many moving to the extreme risk Red stage. “That doughnut hole is growing smaller,’ adds Carlstrom.
“Those people who have been lax ….or hell bent against the harder restrictions, that is not where we want to go — closing schools and businesses … we can’t do that again. But that IS what is going to happen if we don’t adopt these mitigation measures now,”said Felt. He points out that the county’s sacrifice last spring flattened the COVID-19 curve then, giving the county a successful summer season, and the same effort can work now, if people understand that it is a joint effort.
This is the message from Chaffee County’s Public Health Leaders:
“Please consider this your turning point,” said Carlstrom. “It is up to our personal responsibility and accountability — Public Health has given you the tools to fight this. If a local business isn’t following public health measures, or their customers are not, please avoid those places. The majority of the business community has worked so hard and CCPH has fought so hard to keep our residents safe.”
“It doesn’t matter what we believe anymore, we are at the point in Chaffee County that if we can’t show a leveling out, a reduction is our epidemiology level … it will go out of our control,” said Felt, who points out that what matters is rising hospitalizations and ICU beds. “Think about it not as our need to take action now, to preserve our ability to take action later if needed.”
With the state pleading with people to avoid any and all unnecessary gatherings, two question remains: “What is truly necessary? Whose chair do you want to be empty when you gather for Thanksgiving next year?
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