Weekly COVID-19 Emergency Response Summary - SJBPH

Posted on Sep 19, 2020

For week of September 12^th– September 19^th

Local Case Count

See more at SJBPH’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard here: https://sjbpublichealth.org/sjbph-data-dashboard/.

For statewide COVID-19 data see: https://covid19.colorado.gov/data

Testing and Disease Investigation

Testing: **New testing days added!

SJBPH and testing partners Animas Surgical Hospital, Axis Health System, and Mercy Regional Medical Center, continue to operate Durango’s free community testing site. Other partners contributing to the free community testing site include the City of Durango, La Plata County and the La Plata County Sheriff’s Department.
Since its opening on August 4th, 666 tests have been performed at the site.
Starting Monday, September 21^st, testing will expand to 5 days a week to include Mondays and Saturdays from 8:30am-12:30pm. Currently, free, drive-through and walk-up testing is available Tuesdays through Thursdays from 8:30 am 12:30, in the Durango Public Library overflow parking lot on the corner of E 3^rd Ave and 20^th Street.
SJBPH’s Community Testing Site will provide free testing to anyone with symptoms or anyone who is concerned that they may have been exposed either through known contact or general community interaction.

Those testing for travel-related reasons or needing written results for an employer or educational facility should utilize appointment-based testing through private testing providers. Written results cannot be provided for free community testing.

See all testing locations and information here: https://sjbpublichealth.org/testing/.
Locally, 15,638 total COVID -19 tests have been completed, with 1,785 diagnostic (PCR) tests conducted in Archuleta County, 9,998 diagnostic tests conducted in La Plata County, and 3,855 antibody tests conducted. **(Because we are now receiving our testing data from a different source than in the past, which does not include all testing sites, these numbers may not capture all the tests conducted in each county, but allows us to report tests from each county that are reported to CDPHE.)

Contact Tracing:

Since SJBPH started contact tracing in mid-March, the contract tracing team has conducted 1,124 investigative actions.
With the continued increases in cases again this week, SJBPH continues to be busy performing disease investigations for positive COVID-19 cases and outbreaks which includes contact tracing, isolation and quarantine guidance and follow-up, and coordination with state and county public health agencies on non-resident individuals who tested positive in either Archuleta or La Plata counties.

Schools:

In addition to school re-opening support, SJBPH has been coordinating with local schools and school districts with the emergence of positive cases, resulting in quarantine and isolation of some students and school personnel.
SJBPH has been working with Archuleta and La Plata county schools and school districts and Fort Lewis College as they re-open to ensure that students, teachers, and staff are returning to safe and healthy learning environments, with appropriate public health precautions in place.
To date, SJBPH staff have reviewed and provided comments back on the back to school plans for all 4 school districts in our area (Durango School District 9R, Bayfield School District, Ignacio School District, and Archuleta School District) as well as 9 independent schools (8 in La Plata County and 1 in Archuleta).
SJBPH has been working with Fort Lewis College since July to ensure their students and staff started the school year with appropriate public health precautions to control disease. We have had ongoing communications with them on their infection control plan and contract tracing protocols.

State and Local Public Health Orders **New update

*Governor Polis extended the face-covering order, D 2020-190, requiring individuals in Colorado to wear non-medical face coverings, through October 12^th, 2020.
Archuleta and La Plata counties are currently under Colorado Dept. of Public Health and Environment’s (CDPHE), Ninth Amended Public Health Order 20-28 Safer at Home and In the Vast Great Outdoors, as of 7/31/20.
Colorado has issued the next phase of re-opening, Protect Our Neighbors, which counties apply for. As of now, no counites in Colorado have entered the Protect Our Neighbors phase.
- Communities that demonstrate strong public health and health care systems, paired with low virus levels, can take on more control over their reopening plans. In order to reopen to this greater extent, communities must have:

Low virus prevalence;
Health care capacity to handle a surge; and
Strong public health capacity to contain outbreaks and surges locally, including the ability to test, track, and trace.

In order to qualify for Protect Our Neighbors, a county (or region) must do two things:

Certify qualification according to the scientific metrics; and
Submit a mitigation and containment plan on what the county or region will do if they fall out of compliance with any of the metrics. This containment plan must be accompanied by letters of support from local elected leaders including county commissioners and mayors, the hospitals that serve that community, law enforcement, county emergency management, local public health, and if applicable, tribes.

SJBPH will launch its Protect Our Neighbors dashboard on Monday, September 21st.

Weekly COVID-19 Emergency Response Summary – SJBPH