Logan County starting to get a grip on rising COVID-19 numbers
Officials emphasize need for voluntary compliance with public health guidelines
Logan County’s COVID-19 infection numbers are improving and state officials see no need to take fur ther action.
During an online meeting Friday Trish Mcclain, Northeast Colorado Health Department Director, said some intensive testing is still going on in the county’s longterm care facilities, but efforts to turn around the county’s steadily climbing infection rate are starting to work.
A check Friday afternoon showed that, while the total cumulative number of cases has risen in the past week from 1,162 to 1,282, and there are 50 more active cases than there were a week ago, the curve does show signs of flattening. On the CDPHE’S “COVID Dial,” Logan County shows the two-week average of positive tests is below the 5% threshold at 4.3% and the county remains below two hospitalizations per day over the past two weeks.
“The numbers are improving, and the county is pushing out (the message) to limit personal gatherings, stay home if you’re sick, those kinds of things,” Mcclain said. “Hopefully, things will continue to settle down. We do have some cases in long-term care facilities and the state has helped us get our arms around that.”
The meeting included Mara Brosy-wiwchar, chief of staff for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Logan County Commissioner Byron Pelton, Colorado Counties Inc. Executive Director John Swar tout and Logan County Sheriff Brett Powell, among others. It was termed a “checking in” meeting to let local government officials talk with state of ficials about what’s working and what else they need from the state.
Brosy-wiwchar emphasized the need for continued testing, which prompted a question about why Logan County’s Board of Commissioners cancelled three public COVID-19 testing sessions.
Pelton said the turnaround time for results on the type of testing being done did little more than tell authorities what they already knew.
“The testing was shut down because when it takes seven to eight days (to get results back) you can’t use it as a mitigation tool,” Pelton said. “There are rapid testing methods available, but those are expensive and the supplies are very hard to come by.”
Brosy-wiwchar hinted that new testing methods with faster turnaround times are in the offing.
“We are trying to do more antigen testing, more rapid testing, and I believe testing will change in our state and in our countr y in the coming weeks,” she said.
Pelton also brought up the frustration expressed by school of ficials in Logan County about confusion over guidelines from the Colorado High School Activities Association concerning sports in the schools.
Brosy-wiwchar said the confusion was caused because the latest CHSAA guidelines only applied to schools in counties with Level 1 and Level 2 waivers, and didn’t apply to schools in Level 3 counties.
“There are a lot of other schools (in Level 3 counties) and that’s where the confusion came in, and we apologize for that,” she said.
Meanwhile, Pelton and Mcclain both called for stricter voluntary compliance with statewide public health directives, including wearing of masks in public and social distancing.
“We still have our challenges, but I think things are getting better,” Mcclain said.