A recap of the Community Meeting on May 21st 2020. Watch the full meeting here.
View the meeting slides here.
Dave Ressler – CEO Aspen Valley Hospital
- Community has done its job of reducing the virus which is why we are able to move forward.
- We must understand that COVID-19 remains a threat as we open our community, which is why all community members and visitors must adhere to the 5 Commitments of Containment.
- Reopening is not optional. To support all social determinants of health, we must reopen our economy and do it in a smart and cautious way.
Review of the data for the 5 Criteria for Reopening: please see slideshow and review the Board of Health Recap for a full synopsis of all data.
Sustained decrease in number of Covid-19 cases in the community
- Since mid-April, we’ve had a sustained period with relatively low levels of activity on a daily basis
- Have seen an uptick recently, but that is most likely from increased testing.
- Number of AVH employees out with Covid-like symptoms has declined significantly.
Hospitals safely treating patients (AVH Capacity Matrix- see slideshow)
- Working with public health to create a table that shows at any given time how ready we are to handle patients
- Current status: comfortable with the amount of patients in the hospital, comfortable with the amount in outpatient facilities and comfortable with the amount of hospital staff we have.
Testing
- If you have symptoms, contact your primary care physician and get referred to the Respiratory Tent. If you do not have a doctor, call Aspen Valley Hospital Primary Care to get a testing appointment: 970-279-4111.
- Patients who are coming into the hospital for surgery or to have a baby are tested. They use blood and PCR tests based on physicians recommendations. Almost all of these are “virology,” which is looking for the presence of the virus through a nasal swab. Have had 2 asymptomatic patients who were going in for other procedures and tested positive.
- Community testing is being performed for all patients with symptoms who are referred to the respiratory tent. Done with nasal swab tests.
- Working on rapid PCR testing solutions at AVH.
- Those individuals that test positive are connected with Pitkin County Public Health to do contact tracing and box in further spread of the virus.
Charlie Spickert – Epidemiologist
Please refer to the powerpoint and full recap of the 5.21.2020 Board of Health Meeting recap for Charlie’s presentation.
- Our Roadmap to Reopening includes reopening the economy and our goal now is to move from population-based strategies to individual and close-contact containment. It will require MORE personal responsibility on everyone’s parts in order to welcome more visitors and business into town.
- Data Dashboard: includes all of the data that we are watching, this will be available for everyone on the Pitkin website next week so everyone can see all of the indicators we are watching as we move into Phase 2:
- PCR testing: To date total tested 305, 21 positive results, 268 negative, 16 results pending (does NOT include antibody tests of PCR tests done by private practices, results include testing of staff, pre-op and ob patients)
- Case Stability: No current outbreaks or unrelated cases in past 14 days in Pitkin County
- Symptom Tracker: self reporting on any sort of flu or covid-like symptoms. These self-reported numbers have declined in the past month, potentially due to the widely available testing for those who are experiencing symptoms, Eagle County reports similar findings.
- Decreasing and/or Stable Cases in Adjacent Counties: Eagle and Garfield- using a 7-day average. All counties are stable in a trend of no or few new cases. Across Colorado as a whole, cases are decreasing. Worldwide, cases continue to increase (this is also the case for some Southern states as they are reopening).
- Traffic Counts: current traffic patterns are back to within 7% of last year, people are moving about more. CDPHE is also monitoring mobility through cellphone data across counties. April and May data show people getting out and moving around more, this is an important piece of data in contact tracing.
- Other data being used to inform the metrics dashboard: Building permits, airport passenger traffic, restaurant occupancy, lodging reservations. Our goal is to learn as much as possible about any new cases, so that we can be catching and acting on virus containment quickly.
Box It In:
- This is a focus on individual containment, a more surgical (fine and detailed approach), rather than the blunt, population wide approach of Stay at Home.
- 1st Metric: identify and PCR test 100% of symptomatic patients within 24 hours: working to encourage employers to screen, airport screening, etc. Our suppression strategies have reduced our Ro (how many people get infected by 1 person with COVID) to 1 or less.
- 2nd Metric: PCR Testing Results returned in 24 hours (48 hours maximum). Currently, results from AVH are 2-5 days. Our challenge is whether to isolate and contact trace prior to the test result coming back in.
- 3rd Metric: All cases interviewed for Contact Tracing if Positive Test Result. Cases in Pitkin County have been so few, and with symptoms onset so long ago, that there has been very little need for contact tracing so far. One challenge we anticipate is that people don’t like to pick up the phone.
- 4th Metric: All Positive Cases and Contacts are Isolated and/or Quarantined and Support is offered if needed (groceries, housing, etc). Pitkin County is working on technology and process for delivery of isolation and quarantine letters, tracking these individuals.
- 5th Metric: all isolated and/or quarantine individuals receive follow-up monitoring. This follow up includes monitoring symptoms and getting contacts tested if they are symptomatic. Our goal is to add data to the dashboard on all the individuals who are in isolation and quarantine.
Most of our population is not infectious, but rather susceptible to being infected. We understand health goes beyond “being infectious or not infectious”, it includes all the social determinants of health. The following factors impact on our health and wellbeing:
- Childhood experiences
- Housing
- Education
- Social Support
- Family Income
- Employment
- Our communities
- Access to health services
Steps for Managing COVID-19 Epidemic:
- Reduce viral transmission with suppression strategies
- Follow with aggressive case containment via “Box It In”
- Closely Monitor data to be sure that new cases < healthcare capacity
- Follow the Roadmap to a greater level of economic health
Mayor Torre: on what each of us as individuals can do. He is available at [email protected]
- Still on target for re-opening on the 27th, but this still depends on local data and guidance from the State
- Our community and our businesses rely on US to be conscientious and respectful of each other and to keep eachother safe.
5 Commitments of Containment:
- 6 foot distancing : keep others and yourself safe
- Washing your hands : no transmission to yourself or others
- Face coverings : for not only your health but for the health of others when you cannot maintain 6 foot distancing or entering a business
- Stay home if you are sick: plenty of resources to help out while you are in isolation. The community is here for you
- If you have any covid-like symptoms, get tested! Testing is available at AVH, you must be referred or have an appointment.
If we can continue the amazing work we have been doing and encourage others to do the same, we can have a great, safe summer. Make sure you’re reaching out to your friends, loved ones, and neighbors to say you’re thinking about them. We still have work to do and we’re in this together! Stay healthy, stay safe, stay sane, be well.
If you need more info can be found here
