KEYSTONE, Colo. — Since Summit County’s economy reopened after the pandemic-induced shutdown in March and April, a major question lingered: What’s going to happen when visitors bring the virus to the county
At a town hall meeting Tuesday, Aug 4, Aaron Parmet, infection prevention manager at St. Anthony Summit Medical Center, presented the health system’s testing data, which reflects the impact of visitors in the county. Overall, the data suggests that while visitors have flocked to Summit County in an effort to enjoy a summer in the mountains, they haven’t majorly impacted the local response to the virus.
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Centura Health, which owns St. Anthony, oversees the majority of testing in Summit County, including nearly all of the testing of visitors.
According to the Centura testing data — which only includes the nasal test and excludes tests of people without symptoms who were tested ahead of an elective surgery — visitors have accounted for a small majority of positive cases per week since mid-June while the number of people being tested in the county is mostly residents. The numbers aren’t surprising, Parmet said.
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