CoPIRG Calls on Gov. Polis to keep stay-at-home order in place

From testing to tracking to number of cases, Colorado not meeting key criteria to ease restrictions

CoPIRG

CoPIRG is calling on Gov. Jared Polis to keep Colorado’s stay-at-home order in place beyond this weekend because the state is not meeting the guidelines laid out by public health experts, including the Colorado Association of Local Public Health Officials, around testing, tracking, and the number of new cases per day.

In order to begin to relax stay-at-home rules, key indicators must be met including:

1. Comprehensive testing. This includes having the capacity to test everyone with symptoms. As of the April 23rd Governor’s Community Engagement Update on COVID-19, Colorado is at 33% within 48 hours.
2. The ability to track, trace and quarantine any new cases of COVID-19 to stop future outbreaks. There is no evidence we have this capacity at this time.
3. A sustained decrease in cases over 14 days. The state’s data shows that since April 9th, we have not seen a sustained decrease, with the number of new cases fluctuating between 265 and 436 cases.
4. Hospital capacity to treat patients. State data indicates we have enough key equipment including ventilators. While media reports new beds are being added, we could not find a number to indicate how many open hospital beds we have versus what we need.  

“We are calling on Governor Polis to listen to public health experts and wait until Colorado has met these criteria before any moves are made to relax stay-at-home rules,” said Danny Katz, CoPIRG Director.