Searching for supplies while trying to delay virus’ peak
It’s been four weeks since Gov. Jared Polis announced Colorado’s first known cases of the new coronavirus. “Don’t panic,” he urged that day. When asked whether citizens should change their daily routines in any way, he said, “I don’t plan on changing mine.”
That feels like a lifetime ago, and we have seen a completely different Polis in the last few weeks.
His voice has gone hoarse from all the shouting at news conferences and the nonstop calls, he told The Denver Post during a 15-minute interview Wednesday at the state’s emergency operations center in Centennial. His eyes were nearly closed for parts of the conversation.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
How are you? Have you slept much recently?
It’s crazy for all of us. I’m on a series of calls and conference calls all day and night, looking at presentations and updates on my computer and on my phone, just trying to stay on top of things as we navigate through this crisis, and try to do it in a way where we can reduce the economic slowdown and save lives.
Yesterday, I telecommuted from my home office and we were able to take one walk around the neighborhood with our kids and dog to get them outside, to get us outside, get some exercise. We walked about a mile and a half. But mostly I’m just — you can tell I’m a little hoarse, just from talking so much. Listening, talking, listening, talking.
Every day is a series of calls and virtual meetings, all day and night, as we try to do everything from acquire masks to increase hospital beds to increase compliance with the stayhome (order) and figure out the nuances of it, to address different legal questions, to the normal business of the governor. I signed a number of bills today, and the rest of the state has to continue to function, too.
When did you realize what a crisis this would be?
When it really became serious is when we saw that people that had no connection to a traveler, or no connection to traveling themselves, and that it was spreading between people in our communities, as at that point we had seen in Italy and other countries. As soon as we saw that community spread, we started taking these socialdistancing actions. I think one of the key ones was, before St. Patrick’s Day, we closed down the bars. Thank goodness we did. I know in Louisiana they deeply regret not canceling Mardi Gras.
You have mentioned that you have had conversations with Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump. What are you telling them, and what are you hearing back?
I’m in touch regularly with anyone who can help. The head of the CDC connected me to the CEO of (private testing lab) LabCorp. We’re talking to anybody who can help, all the time, anytime.
Certainly everyone is polite, but what we really need is: What can you get us? When can you get it to us? We have very little visibility into that. If you’re not going to get us any ventilators, tell us now. We have to assume that’s the case. While people aren’t saying no, they aren’t giving us any timeline, or delivery.
It seems like it’s a very chaotic response, but we’re trying to provide as much order as we can to save people’s lives in Colorado, and we would love the federal government to step up and help.
How can we have conf idence that the doubling time in Colorado for new coronavirus cases is going down if there are people who have the virus who we don’t even know about?
We see the number of beds we’re using every day. The frustrating part is that’s a trailing indicator — usually four or five days to exposure and then often another seven or eight days to hospitalization. We need to track that, and we need to grow for that, because that’s the pinch point. It’s not how many people have the virus, or have had it. It’s about who needs a bed now, at any given time, who needs a bed in a week, in two weeks, who needs a ventilator, who needs oxygen, who the caregivers are.
What’s your best guess at this point about when the peak will hit Colorado?
We simply haven’t seen the data and the information about how successfully people are staying at home. We will have real data on exactly what’s being achieved in the next week.
So you don’t have a sense of whether it will be May versus June versus sometime in April?
Well, the hope is that if people are successfully staying home, we’re pushing back that peak, giving us more time to prepare beds and acquire the ventilators so Coloradans don’t die from lack of medical supplies.
If we’re pushing off the peak, does that mean we’re also prolonging the amount of time we’re under distancing orders?
No, the reason for the distancing order is to delay the peak so that we can scale up our medical system and have the beds we need so that Coloradans don’t die from lack of medical care. Once we have those beds, we’ll be able to treat an increased caseload, no matter how long the crisis lasts.
There are a lot of people calling for a rent freeze. Is that something you have given any thought to?
We’re using all of our executive authority in terms of not using any state resources around evictions, and I don’t think any law enforcement agency in the state is enforcing evictions. If you hear of one, please let us know.
But the concern is that evictions will restart at some point. People are worried about the floodgates opening.
You can’t control what landlords are threatening. I’m sure there’s some really bad landlords saying they’ll evict you. That is false, unless there’s a public safety dimension to it — if somebody’s running a meth house or engaging in dangerous activity, those emergency eviction orders would be processed. But an eviction for nonpayment in Colorado should not be processed during this 30-day period.
What about 60 days from now? Say I’ve lost my job, and I’m unable to pay. I might get evicted when this cloud lifts.
This is for 30 days that we’re operating now. Obviously, depending on where the crisis is, and whether people are returning to work, we’ll look into extending that.
There are a lot of people in Colorado who are teetering now on homelessness, or descending into poverty.
And that really highlights the need for people to return to work, and that highlights everybody’s need to stay at home. If it’s not enough to get you to stay at home for your own health or for the health of your loved ones, stay at home so that somebody can return to work sooner and be able to make their rent payment. If you care about the homeless issue, if you think there should be less homeless and not more, you need to stay at home now. By not staying home, you’re only contributing to the problem.