Public health reports nine new COVID cases this week

Chaffee County Public Heath reported an additional seven cases of COVID-19 above the two initially reported Tuesday, bringing the total to nine cases reported this week.

Tuesday’s total was six cases, Wednesday had three cases reported and as of 4 p.m. Thursday one more case had been added to the total.

CCPH director and incident command for COVID-19 Andrea Carlstrom said, “The past two weeks have been significantly more dynamic than usual in our case count and complexity of cases and their impact on our county.”

Some of the new cases have disrupted operations at Salida School District and Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center.

Two of the positive cases of the virus, those of a Salida School District staff member and a student, identified early in the week, caused a switch to remote learning at all Salida schools as a precaution for students and staff and to give CCPH staff time to do contact tracing.

Salida School district reported as of Thursday afternoon all contact tracing had been completed and families impacted had been directly contacted by CCPH.

The district administration stated in an update they were awaiting further test results before making a decision on a return to in-person learning Monday.

That decision is expected to be announced this afternoon.

Three of the new cases are connected to Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center.

A press release stated that as of Thursday, one confirmed case is a patient and two confirmed cases are staff.

All known affected patients and staff have been quarantined and placed on precautions.

The new cases prompted HRRMC to move to a heightened phase of precautionary measures with frequent communications and active investigations.

The hospital is currently closed to visitors and those entering for treatment will be screened at the door.

Changes in elective and outpatient services have also been made. Contact the hospital for more information.

“HRRMC continues tightly coordinated efforts with state and local health officials, including Chaffee County Public Health (CCPH) and the state epidemiologist,” the release stated. HRRMC will continue testing and monitoring per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

As the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve, more changes may occur. For the latest updates visit hrrmc.com or call 719-530-2217.