{"id":66067,"date":"2020-03-05T16:13:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T23:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/local-agencies-prepare-for-possible-coronavirus-outbreak-while-urging-calm\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T05:33:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T11:33:41","slug":"local-agencies-prepare-for-possible-coronavirus-outbreak-while-urging-calm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/local-agencies-prepare-for-possible-coronavirus-outbreak-while-urging-calm\/","title":{"rendered":"Local agencies prepare for possible coronavirus outbreak, while urging calm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"San
San Juan Basin Public Health said Friday there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Colorado.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

As national concerns mount about the coronavirus COVID-19, local agencies are preparing for an outbreak and directing concerned residents to reliable sources of information.<\/p>\n

Samie Stephens, regional epidemiologist at San Juan Basin Public Health, said an increased number of concerned community members have contacted the health department during the past week about COVID-19.<\/p>\n

Stephens said she understands people are worried about the spread of COVID-19, and the health department is taking appropriate steps to address the outbreak and work with state and local partners to coordinate efforts.<\/p>\n

Part of those efforts include working with local hospitals, public school districts, elected officials, emergency planners and primary care providers to be prepared for a potential outbreak and spread.<\/p>\n

With reports of a worldwide shortage of medical face masks<\/a>, people are discouraged from buying them at this point.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, the CDC does not recommended the use of face masks,\u201d Stephens said. \u201cIt\u2019s not spreading in our community, so face masks are not what\u2019s recommended.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephens said if anyone in the area has recently traveled outside the country and is concerned about possible exposure to COVID-19, they should monitor recommendations issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or call the health department for more information.<\/p>\n

\"Mercy
Mercy Regional Medical Center has started screening patients for the coronavirus, an illness that has sickened thousands globally.<\/span>Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Mercy Regional Medical Center is also preparing response strategies should a case be reported locally or if the coronavirus becomes more widespread. The hospital held an exercise Feb. 10 going over procedures for receiving a patient with a suspected infectious disease, said Keri McCune, infection prevention program manager for the hospital. She said the exercise \u201chelped identify any planning gaps or areas of improvement so that we can address them before an emergency happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since that exercise, Mercy has developed step-by-step processes for patients who might show up for COVID-19 testing.<\/p>\n

\u201cMercy is prepared and ready if we get a suspected case,\u201d McCune said. If someone needs to go to Mercy for potential coronavirus testing, she said they should first call and consult with a member of the clinical staff before showing up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWashing your hands is still the single most important thing you can do to protect yourself,\u201d McCune said.<\/p>\n

In Colorado, the Department of Public Health and Environment and its local counterparts \u2013 like San Juan Basin Public Health \u2013 are tasked with leading and coordinating efforts around any outbreak, said Butch Knowlton, director of La Plata County\u2019s Office of Emergency Preparedness.<\/p>\n

Knowlton said the early 2000s outbreak of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) laid the groundwork for the consortium of local public health professionals, law enforcement, first responders and emergency management to handle an outbreak.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s multiple agencies in this community that are monitoring and making preparations to handle the situation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Durango School District 9-R has also developed an infectious disease pandemic response plan in coordination with San Juan Basin Public Health, said Dan Snowberger, superintendent of the district. He said the school district does \u201cnot have any heightened concerns outside of normal flu and cold season, and we are continuing to monitor changes in that situation with the support of San Juan Basin Health.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added it is highly recommended families keep students home if they are exhibiting flu-like symptoms.<\/p>\n

Former La Plata County Coroner Carol Huser said COVID-19 is \u201ca vastly different beast from the flu.\u201d While the flu kills about one in 1,000 on average, COVID-19 kills about one in 50, Huser said.<\/p>\n

People don\u2019t need to \u201cstart hoarding food,\u201d but they should continue to take precautions and stay informed.<\/p>\n

Huser, who currently lives in Florida, said she plans to move back to La Plata County by May 1. But she may return sooner if the coronavirus becomes a major concern in the U.S., \u201cbecause I\u2019d rather be there than in Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n

Claire Ninde, spokeswoman for the health department, said people should prepare like they would for a winter snowstorm \u2013 stock up on prescription medicine and basic food supplies \u201cin case people have to stay in their homes for an extended period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ninde said with information changing rapidly, \u201cthe best thing is to go to the trusted sources and get the information there instead of from maybe less appropriate sources.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Juan Basin Public Health established a webpage at sjbpublichealth.org\/coronavirus\/<\/a> to provide regular updates about the situation.<\/p>\n

Ninde recommended checking the health department\u2019s website, the Colorado Public Health and Environment<\/a>\u2019s webpage dedicated to COVID-19 and the Centers for Disease Control<\/a> and Prevention for updates.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Officials urge calm as virus spreads<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29,668,686,290],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-66067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-public-health","tag-san-juan-basin-health-department","tag-virus-diseases"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66067","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=66067"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90261,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66067\/revisions\/90261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66067"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=66067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}