ASPEN, Colo. — Pitkin County officials have been meeting with their counterparts from other rural resort communities to try to figure out a uniform plan for COVID-19 restrictions after state-mandated restrictions become voluntary later this month, an official said Tuesday.
The state is expected to make the color-coded COVID-19 dial restrictions for counties voluntary April 16, with two likely exceptions, Pitkin County Manager Jon Peacock said.
Those exceptions are expected to include maintaining limits on indoor, high-risk environments at 50% capacity and no more than 500 people, and having a “snapback” provision to put dial requirements back in place if local hospital capacity exceeds an established threshold, he said.
Beyond those two exceptions, counties will be able to adopt COVID-19 dial restrictions or not as they see fit after April 16, Peacock said.
But in order to avoid different patchwork restrictions in each rural resort county — which are generally experiencing higher COVID incidence and variant rates than other counties — officials from those areas are discussing adopting similar rules to make it easier on visitors.
The first idea is to adopt the current dial restrictions through May 27, which has garnered some support within rural resort communities, he said. Then, post-May 27 (which starts Memorial Day Weekend), resort communities would move away from capacity limits currently outlined in the dial restrictions while at the same time continuing to emphasize protective measures like wearing facemasks, encouraging social distancing between different households and requiring event safety plans, Peacock said.
> Watch video above: Pitkin County only Colorado county in Orange on COVID dial
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: COVID-19 Coronavirus