DENVER — Cases and positivity rates for COVID-19 remain low and flat in Denver but officials urged caution as we head into the next few weeks when there will be less social distancing due to schools reopening and weather conditions that are likely more favorable for the novel coronavirus.
"I get that question a lot, 'if things are looking pretty good right now, can't we ease up?' Absolutely not," said Bob McDonald, the executive director of Denver Public Health and Environment. "We've got a number of things that are on the horizon here we need to be aware of."
Those things include schools reopening, the upcoming Labor Day holiday, and the cold and flu season.
"It's going to be hard on our hospital system to manage a pandemic and other respiratory illnesses that we see at the same time," he said.
McDonald said respiratory viruses such as the novel coronavirus tend to thrive more in cooler weather and could spread more easily in the fall.
He spoke Thursday afternoon along with Mayor Michael Hancock, and Matt Mueller who is the executive director of the Office of Emergency Management.
They said they plan to transition from the Pepsi Center to more local sites for testing so that they can reach the most vulnerable people. They also hope to make flu vaccines available at those locations.
"We're looking at building out capacity for vaccines at testing sites. We're hoping we can get that done so that we can use the infrastructure that we've already set up to increase vaccinations," said McDonald. "We want to make it as convenient as possible for people to get vaccinated in the course of their, the things that they do throughout the day."
City officials also announced its Recovery Action Plan which outlines priorities as they move forward. The 65-page plan can be found on the city's website.
"The Recovery Action Plan is a detailed operational document that addresses the highest priority needs such as: sheltering, public health interventions, small business and nonprofit assistance and government and business reopening guidance," said Mueller.
The document is not set and will change as conditions change. An updated version will be posted online once a month. City officials encouraged residents to read through the document and provide feedback. Feedback can be provided by emailing COVIDrecovery@denvergov.org.
Late last month, city officials stepped up enforcement of public health policies including face coverings, social distancing and the last-call rule for liquor sales.
They said they wanted to avoid an increase in case numbers and hospitalizations above a certain level which could trigger rollbacks in variances granted by the state health department, according to the mayor.
The city enforcement teams planned to focus on:
- Widespread use of face coverings
- Posting of required signage
- Proper social distancing
- The maximum capacity of businesses and abiding by the state's last call rule, which shuts down liquor sales at 11 p.m.
Businesses can get a ticket if more than 10% of their customers aren't wearing face coverings, or if employees aren't wearing them, the city said.
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