Chaffee County was listed by the Governor yesterday as a county that will need to be increasing restrictions due to its surging COVID-19 case count.

Rest assured, at this time, we are still following Safer at Home guidelines and do not have to scale back. Our recent increase in cases is due to the outbreak at the Buena Vista Correctional Complex and is being acutely managed. We know this has caused much concern, and we will be sure to communicate if the situation changes.

Institutional outbreaks should be assigned to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment while local public health agencies are responsible for staff investigation and contact tracing.

At the time of this press release, the total case count is as follows:

  • Total County Cases (including Columbine Manor and Buena Vista Correctional Complex): 222
  • Community Members: 33
  • Columbine Residents: 44
  • Columbine Staff: 12
  • DOC Inmates: 130
  • DOC Staff: 3 in county and 3 out of county
  • Out of County: 15 (includes 3 DOC staff)
  • Deaths: 14 (19 due to probable)

Recent positive cases over the past week include:

  • 71 year old male, north end of the county, symptomatic, associated with recent travel outside the county
  • 74 year old female, south end of the county, asymptomatic, unknown origin
  • 63 year old male, south end of the county, symptomatic, person to person

CCPH is creating a data dashboard to give more detailed information regarding data trends and will be releasing it in the near future.

CCPH is experiencing a delay in receiving test results from its community testing sites. Test results are taking 7-10 days from the state laboratory. CCPH has been informed that the state health department has increased its capacity to meet the need. Those who have been tested must continue to follow isolation and quarantine expectations while waiting for their test results unless they have surpassed the recommended timeframe. CCPH appreciates everyone’s patience as we continue to navigate situations that are not in our control.

Chaffee County is also hosting a virtual town hall, similar to those held in the past, on Wednesday, July 29th at 4pm to give a situational awareness report and to answer questions that the community has. Questions will be taken ahead of time through Tuesday, July 28th at noon. Questions can be directed to carlstrom@chaffeecounty.org. Panelists will include Greg Felt, County Commissioner, Dr. Erika Gelgand, Heat of the Rockies Regional Medical Center, Josh Hadley, Emergency Medical Services, Kelsey McNeill, Solvista Health, and Andrea Carlstrom, Chaffee County Public Health. Zoom link is forthcoming and will be posted on the Chaffee County website and the COVID-19 Chaffee County Facebook page.

On Friday, July 17th, CCPH was asked to submit a Mitigation Plan in response to Chaffee County’s growing case count despite the Department of Corrections outbreak. This document was submitted on Monday, July 20th and has been received by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The Mitigation Plan will be uploaded on the Chaffee County website.

CCPH will continue to send out situational awareness reports on Mondays and Thursdays and will distribute press releases like this one as new information is available. We are asking that the public take the time to please read these reports before reaching out to ask questions on Facebook and through phone calls, as we feel as though the reports and resources we share cover many of the topics that our community is interested in. In addition, the state COVID-19 website is the best place to get information related to guidance regarding the virus and the stages of response: https://covid19.colorado.gov/.