Summit County Commissioner Elisabeth Lawrence announced Wednesday evening on Facebook that the state will move Summit County backward in the reopening process, adding restrictions in an effort to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.
On Oct. 29, officials with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment gave Summit County one week to show a plateau or decline in both the incidence and positivity rates by Wednesday, Nov. 4, to avoid moving backward.
At the time, the county was reporting a two-week incidence rate of 539 new cases per 100,000 people and a positivity rate — the percentage of tests that return positive — of 10.8%, according to the state’s dial dashboard. One week later, both stats have risen, with the incidence rate at 794 cases per 100,000 people and the positivity rate at 14.3%.
“As those numbers continued to rise, we knew most likely the state was going to put us into a different level,” Lawrence said in a live Facebook video Wednesday night.
Beginning at 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, the county will drop into safer-at-home level orange, formerly called safer-at-home Level 3. It’s just one step above stay-at-home orders, which are now labeled level red.
The additional restrictions are intended to help keep Summit County out of the stay-at-home level, which would put ski season at risk.
“Our winter economy is on the line, and it’s really up to us to put it back on track and make sure it can happen,” she said.
