At the March 1st Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting, the BOCC determined that, based on the status of COVID-19 in the community and the latest federal and state public health recommendations, the county-wide policy setting an indoor masking expectation should be retired beginning March 1st.
Masking will no longer be required in county facilities effective immediately.
This decision aligns with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) current masking guidance and is in the spirit of Colorado’s recently issued Roadmap to Moving Forward, which moves the state from more active pandemic response to a maintenance phase that normalizes the ways we live with COVID, particularly for fully vaccinated individuals. A press release issued from Chaffee County Public Health addresses additional impacts of the current guidance; read the full update from CCPH at bit.ly/CCPHMarch1.
The BOCC also elected not to amend or extend the latest County Public Health Order (2020-08 Amendment 28) and thus it was allowed to expire on its set February 28, 2022 end date. Finally, the BOCC also retired the County’s Emergency Declaration, a week prior to its planned March 8, 2022 expiration.
The County will continue to facilitate county-convened meetings virtually via zoom through the end of March. Beginning in April, County meetings will return to a hybrid in-person and zoom format and the County will notice its meetings accordingly with those details.
Today’s BOCC decisions were made with the understanding that public health measures will continue to be assessed on an on-going basis and may be reinstated if future COVID variants or another communicable disease present a significant threat to the public.
County leadership encourages Chaffee residents to continue to take personal actions, including COVID-19 vaccination and booster shots and staying home when ill, that will help keep COVID transmission rates lowered in our community and keep active cases at a manageable level.
