{"id":88931,"date":"2020-04-28T13:32:19","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T19:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/public-health-department-delays-reopening-some-businesses-in-la-plata-county\/"},"modified":"2020-04-28T19:32:19","modified_gmt":"2020-04-28T19:32:19","slug":"public-health-department-delays-reopening-some-businesses-in-la-plata-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/public-health-department-delays-reopening-some-businesses-in-la-plata-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Public health department delays reopening some businesses in La Plata County"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Liane
Liane Jollon, executive director of San Juan Basin Public Health, announced a public health order Tuesday called \u201cSafer La Plata\u201d that will delay the reopening of some nonessential businesses and work places until May 8.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

San Juan Basin Public Health on Tuesday announced it will delay the reopening of some businesses and workplaces until May 8, a move that extends restrictions to slow the spread of COVID-19, even as other parts of the state relax similar limits.<\/p>\n

Gov. Jared Polis this week began lifting restrictions set in March, including a stay-at-home order. On Monday, retail stores could offer curbside pickup and real estate agencies could hold one-on-one showings.<\/p>\n

Later in the week, a range of businesses such as salons, tattoo parlors and dog groomers will be allowed to reopen under Polis\u2019s order, called \u201csafer-at-home.\u201d And, most workplaces were able to go back to 50% capacity in offices.<\/p>\n

But San Juan Basin Public Health, like many Colorado communities, decided to extend the stricter guidelines, calling the new local health order \u201cSafer La Plata,\u201d which delays most reopenings until May 8.<\/p>\n

Under \u201cSafer La Plata,\u201d personal services such as salons, tattoo parlors, dog groomers, massage and personal training can reopen with \u201cstrict precautions\u201d on May 8.<\/p>\n

In-store retail and non-essential offices may also open May 8, with \u201cstrict social distancing and other precautions.\u201d Businesses and workplaces will be required to self-certify they understand and will carry out the precautions to reopen.<\/p>\n

Liane Jollon, director of SJBPH, said the main driving factor in the decision is the fact that the outbreak is hitting residents hard in northern New Mexico, where many people commute to work from La Plata County, and vice versa.<\/p>\n

As of Tuesday, La Plata County was reporting just 61 positive cases and no confirmed deaths. In San Juan County, New Mexico, however, there have been more than 460 confirmed cases and 35 deaths.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we\u2019re showing really stable numbers in La Plata County \u2026 there isn\u2019t a wall around our city,\u201d Jollon said. \u201cAnd we don\u2019t want to put either of our communities in a riskier situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local health officials also believe the delayed opening will give businesses time to learn new guideline set forth in the public health order to ensure best practice and social distancing within stores to protect employee and customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very much on target for (May 8), but if we had something like a doubling of cases here over the next week \u2026 we\u2019d have to have this conversation again,\u201d Jollon said.<\/p>\n

The decision to delay seems to have buy-in from Durango\u2019s top business leaders, at least according to comments included in the health department\u2019s announcement Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have one opportunity to get this right,\u201d said Jack Llewellyn, executive director of the Durango Chamber of Commerce. \u201cWe all need to understand there is a reason for the opening directives and procedures. I compare this to a faucet slowly being turned on and not opening a flood gate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roger Zalneraitis, economic development manager at the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, said the tribe is continuing its own stay-at-home order, and SJBPH\u2019s delayed reopening more closely aligns with the tribe\u2019s approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe appreciate San Juan Basin Public Health\u2019s reasoned decision-making on the COVID-19 pandemic,\u201d Zalneraitis said.<\/p>\n

Although SJBPH serves Archuleta and La Plata counties, Archuleta County will move to Polis\u2019 \u201csafer-at-home\u201d model. Local health officials say Archuleta County does not have the same cross over with northern New Mexico.<\/p>\n

La Plata County is not alone in extending stricter guidelines to battle the coronavirus. Around seven counties, mostly along the Front Range, have extended some form of the original stay-at-home order.<\/p>\n

But still, Jollon said she expects some businesses that are eligible to reopen, won\u2019t. She said Polis\u2019 order was issued on short notice, and many stores were unable to meet its requirements in time to open this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve heard a lot of that from the business community, that just because they can reopen doesn\u2019t mean they will until we have a better handle, all of us, on what\u2019s happening with this infection,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

applies to salons, tattoo parlors, dog groomers, massage and retail stores<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":88933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[685,28,4259,668,686],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-88931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter-sign-up","tag-public-health","tag-san-juan-basin-health-department"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88931","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=88931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88931"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=88931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}