{"id":50473,"date":"2020-11-13T04:19:28","date_gmt":"2020-11-13T11:19:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/loungin-lizard-closes-amid-covid-19-outbreak-plans-to-reopen-nov-19\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:51:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:51:34","slug":"loungin-lizard-closes-amid-covid-19-outbreak-plans-to-reopen-nov-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/loungin-lizard-closes-amid-covid-19-outbreak-plans-to-reopen-nov-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Loungin\u2019 Lizard closes amid COVID-19 outbreak, plans to reopen Nov. 19"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The Loungin\u2019 Lizard on Main Street in Cortez plans to reopen next week. It closed temporarily on Nov. 3 after an outbreak of the coronavirus.<\/span>Emily Hayes\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Loungin\u2019 Lizard restaurant in Cortez, which temporarily closed this month after a COVID-19 outbreak, plans to reopen Nov. 19.<\/p>\n

A weekly report from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, dated Nov. 11, said 12 \u201cstaff\u201d at the Main Street restaurant tested positive for COVID-19. Karen Dickson of the Montezuma County Public Health Department said that number could include customers as well as staff.<\/p>\n

The Loungin\u2019 Lizard case was determined to be an outbreak on Oct. 27, the state health department said. Statewide, the report listed 59 restaurants with positive tests. Among them, the Loungin\u2019 Lizard had the highest number of confirmed positive tests.<\/p>\n

Amanda Puett, co-owner of the restaurant, said staff members are working closely with the Montezuma County Public Health Department to keep staff, customers and the community safe while ensuring the business stays open long term.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are waiting extra days beyond the health department\u2019s guidance to reopen to give everyone ample time to recover,\u201d Puett said in a statement. The employees who contracted the virus \u201cseem to be recovering nicely,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

According to Puett, the county Public Health Department said the restaurant could reopen as early as Nov. 12.<\/p>\n

The Loungin\u2019 Lizard has been advised to disinfect surfaces in the restaurant frequently, and it will continue to require staff and customers to wear masks. Employees\u2019 temperatures are taken before work, and they will answer screening questions to identify possible COVID-19 symptoms before starting their shifts.<\/p>\n

When the restaurant closed Nov. 3, the county Public Health Department \u201cinformed us that there is no cause for concern to any of our customers,\u201d but if concern does arise, they will contact customers directly, Puett said.<\/p>\n

The state report said the investigation was active, but it listed no probable cases of COVID-19 among \u201cattendees.\u201d CDPHE says an outbreak may be considered \u201cresolved\u201d after 28 days pass with no new illnesses.<\/p>\n

According to the state\u2019s weekly report, the outbreak at Loungin\u2019 Lizard was the largest active outbreak at a restaurant in Colorado as of Nov. 11 in terms of staff who tested positive. However, a Chick-Fil-A in Broomfield had three confirmed positive tests among \u201cstaff\u201d and 10 probable cases of COVID-19 among \u201cattendees.\u201d<\/p>\n

The average number of positive tests at the 59 listed restaurants was 3.9, the state report indicated.<\/p>\n

Officials from the Montezuma County Public Health Department said they could not provide further information Thursday evening.<\/p>\n

CDPHE defines an \u201coutbreak\u201d of COVID-19 as two or more people who contract the virus in a single location within 14 days.<\/p>\n

Cases started rising rapidly in Montezuma County in November. As of Wednesday, there were 332 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 147 active cases and four deaths due to the virus since March.<\/p>\n

Puett said the Loungin\u2019 Lizard will follow state guidelines when it reopens, which currently include limiting indoor capacity to 50% and keeping 6 feet between parties on the outdoor patio. At the front door, customers may sign in and provide contact information in case they are exposed to the virus at the restaurant.<\/p>\n

The restaurant also has a takeout option.<\/p>\n

ehayes@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

working to ensure safety after 12 positive coronavirus tests<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[13,28,167,668],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-50473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines","tag-local-news-lead","tag-public-health"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50473"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87755,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50473\/revisions\/87755"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50473"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=50473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}