By Julia Caulfield

San Miguel County is moving to Safer at Home Level Red: Severe Risk.

The county’s COVID case numbers have been on the rise for weeks.

“We’ve now more than doubled the bi-weekly cases for COVID than what we had in our July peak,” says San Miguel County Public Health Director Grace Franklin. She says the county was allowed a brief window of time to get case numbers moving in the right direction, but that hasn’t happened.

“Seeing were we are now, there’s not much of a shift without taking policy action,” she says, ”so we will be moving into that Level Red of the State dial.”

Franklin made the announcement at a San Miguel Board of County Commissioners meeting on Tuesday. The new level affects most industry and private gatherings.

“Personal gatherings, private or public, are no longer allowed. In the last few dials it was up to 10 people no more than two households,” Franklin says, “in Level Red, for gatherings it’s ‘please stick to your households and do not gather’.”

Retail, offices, and gyms will have capacity limited even further – and working remotely is recommended when possible.

“Indoor dining will be closed. Takeout, curbside, delivery, to go, and outdoor dining – as long as spacing is appropriate between households – is okay,” she notes.

Bars are still to remain closed, unless they serve food, and County Commissioner Hilary Cooper notes food service, must be substantial.

“It cannot be a microwave or a bag of popcorn,” Cooper emphasizes, “we understand our bars have been hit extremely hard by this. But we’ve been a little lenient around here, allowing our bars to operate this summer, and we just want to make sure you don’t lose your liquor license because you don’t have the correct information.”

Level Red also places last call at 8 p.m. but Franklin adds that cutoff isn’t just for bars and restaurants.

“It’s our businesses as well. It’s not a curfew, people can still be walking around, but the intent is not having those late nights,” she says.

On Tuesday, Governor Jared Polis also warned businesses against defying new COVID regulations.

“I think it’s a time for every Coloradan, and that includes county elected officials too, to really asking themselves ‘are you on the side of the virus? Or are you on the side of Colorado?’” the Governor cautioned.

The warning came after some business owners on the Front Range said they would not follow public health orders in their counties. Polis says the state may need to punish businesses that do not comply to protect customers from the virus.

On top of the state’s Level Red restrictions, in San Miguel County, lodging will be capped at 50% and the County is adding an additional provision that will require guests in a lodging unit to be from the same household.

“So a good example would be if I was go hang out with my family and rent a place here. I don’t live with them typically throughout the year and so we would be considered two separate households, which would not be allowed,” notes Franklin, “but Dr. Grundy, with her husband and kid, they could go and rent a place because they are all one household.”

Lodging guests will also be prohibited from visiting others or hosting gatherings within their lodging unit – such as a condo, or hotel.

Education is allowed to stay in person, hybrid, or remote, based on what is deemed appropriate, and the Telluride Ski Resort will still be allowed to operate lifts – however businesses, lodging, and restaurants associated with Telski will be required to comply with Level Red restrictions.

When it comes to getting out of level red, Franklin says that will require a shift in positivity and incident rates, and hospital capacity. The Public Health Department will continue to monitor trends, and reassess San Miguel County’s level in about two weeks.

And if the county does shift back to level Orange, Franklin says the community will need to take deliberate steps to figure out what a slight reopening looks like.

“What worked in the summer does not work as well now,” says Franklin, “and we really need to reevaluate what that looks like for each industry and each business.”

San Miguel County will enter into Stay at Home Level Red: Severe Risk at 1 a.m. on Friday morning, November 27th.