Here are a few key factors Boulder County Public Health (BCPH) considered in its decision to extend the stay at home order through May 8:
- Boulder County is seeing significant increases in positive cases in some of its Long-Term Care Facilities (LTCFs). This can put pressure on local hospitals, as the average length of stay for someone from a LTCF on a ventilator or in ICU can be an extended period of time.
- Extending the Stay-at-Home Order through May 8 gives the state health department/U.S. Army Corps of Engineers the necessary time to prepare a “Tier 2.5” facility that can serve people who are discharged from the hospital, but still require acute care services.
- Boulder County is not meeting several criteria, such as a steady reduction of cases for 14 days, adequate testing in place, and a sufficient workforce trained and ready to respond to additional positive cases and contact investigations. This extension will give us additional time to meet these needs.
In addition, BCPH regularly considers:
- Weekly (and often daily) close information from/discussions with communities, hospitals, healthcare providers, long-term care facilities, first responders, mental health providers, human service providers (housing, employment, childcare, etc.), labs, PPE providers, law enforcement, businesses, school districts, judicial system representatives across Boulder County and other public health leaders and experts across Colorado.
- Local data: www.boco.org/covid19illnessrecovery, https://arcg.is/0vnf9H, hospital summary data: https://arcg.is/0HqqbS0. Additional individual case information and trends are also considered.
- Metro Denver region data (since there are many visitors to the county from nearby counties, and the order has been extended in partnership with Denver Metro counties).
- Conversations with public health agencies in other states, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Governor Polis’ office.
- Recommendations from CDC, John’s Hopkins, National Institutes of Health, and others.
- Recognition that it can take up to 14 days to show symptoms and it takes additional time after symptoms appear for someone to be tested and get results, and for severe cases to become hospitalized, meaning that there can be a delay of weeks to see case increases.
For more information, visit: www.boco.org/COVID-19.
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