COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – The El Paso County Health Department told members of the Colorado Springs City Council on Monday that community variations to allow businesses to expand their operations amid COVID-19 are at risk to back off.
“The governor is watching us closely,” said Susan Wheelan, director of the El Paso County Health Department.
She said, “It is a real concern that we are going to lose those additional variations, those allocations.”
Monday marked the end of a two-week review period by the Colorado Department of Health to see if El Paso County could decrease its cases.
This week, state and local officials are expected to discuss what comes next. Variations in El Paso County could be reversed, or an extension could be given to obtain more data.
Dr. Robin Johnson, Medical Director of the El Paso County Department of Public Health, explained that the county currently has the second highest incident rate in the state.
One of the metrics that communities should follow is to have fewer than 100 cases per 100,000 in a 14-day period. El Paso County currently averages 145 cases, per 100,000.
Johnson explained that when some variations were approved, El Paso County had an average of 25 cases per 100,000 people.
District 5 Councilwoman Jill Gaebler expressed concern about the potential for businesses to close a second time.
“That would be terrible, not only for those individual companies and their owners, but also for our economy,” he explained.
Councilman David Geislinger said: “What the health department presented is very sobering.”
After the health department’s presentation, Mayor John Suthers gave the council a look at revenue for 2019 through 2020, explaining that there has been a decline since the pandemic began.
“We also do not know in which direction this crisis will go with the withdrawal of some of our variations. The conclusion is that we will have less income in 2020 than in 2019,” said the mayor.
The El Paso County Health Department did not specify which variations are at risk.
