Pitkin County stays in Orange Level
PITKIN COUNTY-Today, the state announced an update to Colorado’s COVID-19 Dial 2.0. The Dial 2.0 changes the metrics that determine each county’s current level on the dial. This includes measuring counties with a 7-day incidence rate rather than a 14-day incidence rate. In addition, Dial 2.0 increases the range of incidence rates for each level.
The new dial goes into effect at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 6. At this time, Pitkin County has chosen to stay in the Orange level even though our 7-day incidence level is below the Orange level threshold of 300 on the new dial. The state has also indicated there will be new metrics for communities of 30,000 or less, but has yet to release what those metrics may be.
On Tuesday, Feb. 2, Pitkin County moved from the Level Red to Level Orange and has seen a significant slowing to the incidence rate. “Our goal is to keep our incidence rate moving in a downward trajectory,” said Jordana Sabella, Interim Public Health Director.
As of Feb. 4, our 7-day incidence rate was 275. But just a week ago, on Jan. 29, our 7-day incidence rate was 315 (a difference of Level Orange or Level Yellow). The state has indicated the change to the 7-day incidence rate and new dial ranges allow more responsiveness to local situations and will allow counties to more swiftly move to a level as needed. Locally, we recognize this new metric introduces more elasticity and less consistency in planning.
Public Health was made aware of these changes just this morning with little notice. With President’s Day weekend just seven days away, and only being in Level Orange for four days, Public Health determined it is best to stay in the Orange level until the Board of Health can be apprised of the change. The next Board of Health meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 11 at 1:00 p.m.
**This article corrected. We had the date in the original post incorrect. The COVID-19 State Dial goes into effect Saturday, Feb. 6. We originally had the date as Feb. 9.**
