Slideshow Presentation:
Recap:
Karen Koenemann: filling in to run the meeting for Mayor Markey Butler
Charles Spickert, Epidemiology:
The world around us: living with Covid
-professional sports have made adjustments/new rule to keep players and teams safe: masks, no spitting on the field, no fans/spectators
-social distancing and masks aren’t a popular option but help protect our citizens and protect our economy, there is not cost to social distancing and wearing a mask, if we want shops and businesses to open we need to focus on our interactions, actions and responsibilities
-new cases are coming from social interactions, gatherings, carpooling bringing spread INTO work places instead of workplaces bringing forth spread
Epidemiologists, safety timelines:
-now: comfortable getting mail and running errands
-in a year: eating at a restaurant, boarding a plane
-more than 1 year: sporting events, concerts, plays, stop wearing mask/face covering
The Three C’s:
-closed spaces with poor ventilation
-crowded spaces especially with people not wearing face coverings
-closed settings/conversations
*aspens social scene, close concerts and events, Aspen’s social scene needs to adjust to emphasize more
More infections are being seen in younger individuals
-many are a-symptomatic, part of the risk is transferring infection to older individuals (parents and grandparents)
-deaths 60+ account for 90% of deaths
-governors in places like florida are reconsidering lock downs
-9.3% positivity, with the capacity of 10%, we need to see this positivity lower, this is either an indicator that this is spreading or we need more testing
-overall positivity on a weekly basis: early on only testing at the hospital but now that testing is more widespread we are down to
Cases:
-last week 11 new cases: 3 associated with workplace clusters, 2 linked to household member transmission, 2 associated with restaurant employees, 1 antibody test from older infection (will be removed from data), 1 is in Garfield county (will also be removed), 2 new and under investigation
-data goes up and down after investigations and people reside in different counties
-we know eagle, garfield and pitkin have clusters that are linked
-Eagle and Pitkin cases are stable, Garfield and Colorado cases are increasing
Exposure Risk/Risk of infection:
-calculated visitor origins and pitkin is highest on the list
-we might ensure people coming here are symptom free, may need other strategies to employ to limit that risk of exposure
WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN:
-increase need to step up contact tracing
-number of new cases are concerning as are increases in adjacent counties
-this may be a reason to move slowly and not accelerating our reopening
-public health not yet fully built out with a team
-we are moving into cautious from comfortable (Epidemiology Matrix)
-testing 7 days/week: Monday alone 38 PCR tests at AVH, volume is definitely increasing
-medical patients also trending up in positive cases, people coming to the hospital with COVID like illness
-hospitalizations have remained low, today no one in the hospital for covid-19, still worry about potential surge
-number of healthcare workers out with COVID like illness: slight uptick not higher than threshold (AVH matrix) currently 5 (up from 2 last week)
This is not the time to declare victory over the COVID-19 pandemic, it is far from over. Ultimately we need a vaccine and until then must socially distance, wear a mask and prevent transition
Kim Levin, Aspen Valley Hospital:
Concerns
-increase in numbers (from the hospital)
-rate at which infections are rising: concerning how rapid the rise and movement of this is
-respiratory tent hit 10 for the first time, community testing hit 13 in one day we are getting close to the limits (case rising), nationally the highest rise since April (texas, florida, california top 3), those are markets who all come here, that makes it essential to message to people coming in
-sounding an alarm for people in our community that numbers are rising here and in surrounding communities, this is a feeling of discomfort even though we are in the “comfortable” range
-hospitalizations do not move with community spread, there is a delay, hospitalization data we won’t expect to see for another 10 days/2 weeks as community spread increases, death data is also looked at and that is even further of a lag potentially 3 weeks before we see those numbers
-what we are seeing is a predictive value of what is to come
-Texas ICU 97% filled, they are stopping and halting any steps moving forward (that displays the lag in cases and hospitalizations)
Masks:
THEY WORK, “my mase protects you and your mask protects me”
-you need to wear masks, you are doing this to protect someone else and when you see someone not wearing masks they aren’t taking the responsibility to protect you
CHANGE THIS CULTURE, personal responsibility and respect for eachother
We are at a concerning turning point, the course of what happens is in our hands, we can change it if we follow rules set for restaurants and businesses.
-you cant see the illness out at dinners and social gatherings, it’s easy to make the excuse that no one around you is sick and you can’t see it, but it is! It is here and it’s our responsibility to change the course of this rapid rise
Overall:
-this is not the best timing to open things up
-”protect our neighbor” is about increasing gatherings and opening more up and unfortunately this is NOT the best timing for this, data shows us we need to move slowly and take careful steps
-Medical Advisory Team: please consider adding a public health clause to the order having it required of any new visitor to be symptom free for 10 days, we want you here to visit, this will help send message and protect our community, NY and NJ considering not allowing visitors without 14 day quarantine when arriving from a state with rising cases, this is a similar tactic to encourage visitors to come but come symptom free
Tracing:
-if you test positive you isolate for 10 days
-contact with someone and you have symptoms we recommend testing
-contact without symptoms still have to quarantine for 14 days
Testing:
-still limited number so we are still requiring a doctor’s order so we can test everyone WITH symptoms
-trying to make it simpler and streamline as demand continues for testing
-ideally we would have tests for anyone at any pint, large volumes of people and work with numbers but its a limited resource still and we are making sure anyone with symptoms
Torre:
Q: 30,000 masks for the airport, how long will that last?
A (John Peacock): we anticipate that will get us through to the fall/shoulder season, most people are driving
Q: antibody tests, we went through the validation process, if they are sitting on a shelf can we deploy those even knowing that there are inefficiencies that result from those tests
Karen Koenemann:
Looking at this notion of where we are nationally and as a community. What we know has been discussed, we are seeing an uptick in cases and moving into a “cautious” zone. We also expected this increase in cases, knowing COVID is still in the community, we want to make sure we have systems in place to go back to containment strategy. We had incredible suppression in March but have fallen to a “D-” as we open back up and our social mobility increases. 65% social distancing is a critical message, decreasing social activity by 65%. We know the virus is here and we are learning to live with it until we have a widely distributed vaccine. We are interconnected across the valley, state and nation so what other communities do impact us and that’s something we need to continue to take that into account with who is around us and who is coming to visit us.
Adaptive Response:
-with the stay at home that was a true suppression response
-lifting suppression brought us back to containment stage
-seeing clusters and we need to think about what we are doing to strategize around those clusters
-public health order was the hammer to suppress, as we let up on that we see blips that we keep watch on to not overwhelm the healthcare system or mortality rate
-Box it in, containment stage of the pandemic response which is where we are, we are still suppressing since we have not lifted all orders and have a containment strategy with these emerging clusters: 5 commitments and 3 C’s and social distancing
Re-opening Plan: Safer at Home Phase 2 (aligning with state Public Health Order)
-planned to align with the state and want to run through plans for reopening tomorrow, June 26th:
-drive-in events (movies and concerts), low rise, people contained in their cars
-lodging: potentially allow for 100% capacity, we’ve been more restricted that the state
-museums: fewer than 10 individuals per room
-residential camps: operate 10 indoors and 25 outdoors, paying special attention after the outbreak of a staff in el paso county
-restaurants and lodging community feedback:
-when managers are there it’s easy to provide info for the guests, working with hourly employees to train on those crucial conversations
-lodging sharing 5 commitments and protocols with customers, we can work together to educate guests upon arrival and when they leave for the day, building that partnership with the lodging community on this messaging
-dining still can’t exceed 8 per table, private dining must commit event safety plan/permit in order to host up to 50 people, lodges hosting up to 50 person conferences must also complete that safety plan/permit
Recommendations of where NOT to align:
-wait to open bars to see how data responds over the next few weeks, push to July 10 or 24 even though state is allowing them to open at 25% capacity
-mass gatherings: difficult for contact tracing effectively and looking at impact of mass events we feel this is high risk and do not make changes for 2-4 more weeks
-no service at bar preparing drinks, bar can be used as seating, includes a bar in a restaurant, bar is either used to prepare drinks or as dining seating
Bill Madsen:
Education is a critical component as we do not have the bandwidth for mass enforcement, “no shirt, no shoes, no mask, no service” lets provide our stakeholders the tools to succeed, also reach out to guests about coming without symptoms and with an awareness as to what we expect
John Peacock:
This is a cultural issue and cultures don’t change quickly but do with leadership and consistency of messaging. We need to have our eyes on the long game, these conversations and leveraging leadership positions to be consistent with these messages will continue to move compliance forward. There are problem spots but that leadership and consistency will help with that voluntary compliance.
Table topics for Next week:
-potential curfew
-providing masks to give out in restaurants and lodging
-10 day symptom free requirement for visitors
Takeaways:
-balancing opening with keeping our community healthy
-culture shift: 5 commitments to containment, 3 C’s
