Gunnison County Moves to Safer at Home Blue

As of 5:00 PM on 11/12/2020, CDPHE moved Gunnison County to the Blue level on the State Dial. Gunnison County is no longer in Protect Our Neighbors status which means a tightening of restrictions compared to what we had in previous weeks. The key changes are:

Reduce Business Occupancies from 55% to 50%

Gyms and fitness centers reduced to 25%

Personal gatherings of no more than 10 people and no more than 2 households

These changes are in addition to the mitigation steps that went into place last week surrounding events/event sizes and personal travel. These mitigation steps went into effect on 11/5/20:

Event sizes have been reduced to 50 outdoors and 25 indoors. All events, even those who have a prior approval, must reduce to these sizes. We also recommend planning for future event sizes of 25 outdoors and 10 indoors. Health and Human Services will continue to work through additional event applications, but future approvals have been paused as our local cases continue to surge. Additional information can be found on Events Review webpage.

As a second mitigation step, we are recommending that anyone who travels outside of the county for more than 24 hours self isolate for 7 days upon their return. If you develop symptoms during that time, stay isolated and seek testing.

Gunnison County Coronameter

We continue to meet two of our indicators for a move to the Yellow level of Gunnison County’s Coronameter. We have had 3 or more days in a 7 day period with 3 or more positives per day. Our second indicator of test positivity remains over our 5% threshold. As of 11/13 our positivity rate is over 12%.

The remaining indicators for a move to Yellow are around our ability to give care. These metrics are evaluated daily by Public Health and GVH staff. A key consideration in this remains our ability to transfer patients effectively to other regional health systems. We will continue to monitor these indicators and update the community on their status.

Center For Mental Health Crisis Walk-In Center Alert: Temporary Closure

The CMH Crisis Walk-In Center, Crisis Stabilization Unit, and Withdrawn Management Unites will be temporarily closed from 6:00 AM Wednesday, November 18th to 6:00 AM on Thursday, November 19.  Calls to the Center Support and Crisis Line at (970) 252-6220 will be answered and directed to appropriate resources.

Ventilation Assistance Program

Due to a high volume of requests after the initial deadline, we are re-opening the Gunnison County Ventilation Assistance Program application. If you have previously submitted an application, please do not resubmit your application. 

The second application period will remain open through the end of the day on 11/19/20. Late applications will not be considered in Round 2. We will then process applications by the same risk matrix to determine recipients. Recipient businesses will be contacted directly via e-mail or phone once we have established distribution. 

This will inevitably mean that some businesses do not receive a unit who applied in the first round as well. However, we continue to look to prioritize business operations with a higher risk of viral transmission. Gunnison County and Gunnison County Public Health believe this is an important tool in creating safe indoor spaces in our community. 

For businesses that do not receive a unit through the County, we encourage you to look into purchasing a HEPA filter for your establishment if you are able to do so. IQAir makes high quality products and more information about the range of HealthPro line can be found here. Additional units at a variety of sizes and costs can be found in this Consumer Reports review.

Interconnected Community

While we have seen a disproportionate number of cases at the Western Colorado University campus, we want to reiterate that we are an interconnected community. Many of the students work at our main street businesses. Staff and students at Western commute throughout our community. Many have a family with children or a spouse who works in the community. We share a hospital, grocery store, and many other services. We have to balance handling the outbreak with continuing to thrive as a community.

Cases are occurring in all segments of our communities and we need to be mindful of how we can work as individuals to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Database upgrade

Gunnison Public Health has updated the database that hosts test results for our community. By installing a new database the County will improve our ability to analyze and understand results, maintain data quality, and effectively communicate with the public.  This database generates the county’s public dashboard. While the database transition has occurred, there are further updates needed to ensure data can be displayed fluidly and effectively. These updates remain in progress as of 11/13/20.

Virtual Town Hall

Our next town hall will be on 11/19 during the 4:00 PM-5:00 PM time slot. Sign up ahead of time here.

If there is a topic you would like to see covered, please email ideas to, pio@gunnisoncounty.org.

State Exposure Notification App

The state’s new exposure notification app is now live. Info on how to set it up can be found here. Even a small uptake of the app in our community can positively impact our outcomes. While alone it won’t be a game changer, combined with our other tools- social distancing, masks, hand hygiene- we can continue to reduce the spread.

Screening Site

The main screening site is located at Gunnison Valley Health and is open Monday through Friday. Testing requires an appointment ahead of time.

The screening site is located in the large north entrance parking lot and operates out of a shed. We ask that you please contact the Call Center in advance to schedule an appointment at 970-641-7660.

Call Center: 970-641-7660

The Call Center is open from 8 a.m.-12p.m. and 1 p.m.- 4 p.m. Monday-Friday.

Here is an infographic of the Call Center call tree.

For those needing assistance outside of those hours, please leave a message. There will also be someone monitoring the callcenter@gunnisoncounty.org email.

Delivery Assistance

We can help you arrange deliveries of groceries from City Market’s Pickup program, food bundles from the Gunnison Food Pantry and prescriptions from City Market or Walmart pharmacies. We ask that you only use this service if you are at risk and isolating at home, ill with COVID-19 symptoms or quarantined because of exposure. Deliveries are made by drivers trained to handle your order safely. 

To arrange for a delivery, please call Senior Transportation Dispatch at 970-641-7959 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Grocery deliveries can be scheduled Monday through Friday.

Prescription deliveries can be called in throughout the week but will only be delivered on Tuesdays and Fridays for the Gunnison area and on Tuesdays for the Crested Butte area. Special arrangements may be made in the case of an emergency.

Food Pantry bundles can be requested throughout the week but are only delivered on Tuesdays and Fridays in Gunnison, and on Tuesdays for the Crested Butte area. 

Importance of Self-Reporting

One of the best tools to provide early warnings of spread in the community is to self-report as symptomatic. If you have symptoms consistent with COVID-19, even if they are mild, please self-report and isolate yourself.