CASTLE ROCK, Colo – With the statement that ‘this pandemic is over’, the Douglas County Provincial Commissioners’ Council unanimously voted Tuesday to pass a resolution deciding from Friday to obtain further public health orders from Tri County .
The resolution primarily opens businesses and restaurants in Douglas County to operate fully. However, the mandate of the state mask and other restrictions applicable to indoor events will remain. In addition, the Douglas County School District must continue to follow state guidelines.
The board adopted the resolution while the state prepared for control of the switchboard system and restrictions on local health departments. Tri County Health, of which Douglas County is a part, has implemented a two-phase plan that has extended the current slide to one month after Friday. However, with the adoption of Tuesday’s resolution, Douglas County will no longer participate in the state health department’s control plan.
Tri County Health, which serves the counties of Adams, Araphoe and Douglas, negotiated new terms with Douglas County in November, giving land commissioners the option to waive public health orders that do not apply to the country.
The reasons why the commissioners decided to choose further restrictions and reopen the province were cited in the resolution due to the 98% survival rate of COVID-19, the severity of cases most commonly seen in people aged 70 and older and those with underlying health problems. , and that more than 80% of people in that ‘vulnerable group’ have been vaccinated.
Furthermore, the resolution states that from April 7, Douglas County had an ICU capacity rate of 26% and that the 14-day running average hospitalizations in the country per 100,000 inhabitants due to COVID have been less than two per day since early December.
Commissioner Abe Laydon referred to Hans Christian Anderson’s folktale, “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” as a way to describe how, according to him, further health restrictions in Douglas County do not match current data.
“Based on the facts before us today, I want the courage of that young child (in Anderson’s folktale), and that Douglas County is the first province in the state to say that this pandemic is over,” Laydon said. said. .
The data quoted in the resolution and repeated at Tuesday’s meeting appear to contradict state health officials. They said Friday the state is in a fourth wave of the pandemic, with more than half of the new cases caused by varieties of concern and increasing number of cases and hospitalizations among people aged 18-50.
Government Jared Police said Friday that it is currently a time of great concern for Colorado, with several factors all sticking out head on at the same time.
Colorado on Tuesday reported nearly 1,904 COVID-19 cases, 93 new hospitalizations and a seven-day average positivity rate of 5.62%, which is still climbing. There were also 494 hospital beds used by confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients.