There is no clear route out of the pandemic crisis, however, so far, Colorado officials give every indication to be on the right track.
With real success in a situation where all the choices have been bad and worse, it would be tragic to lose ground for avoiding an easy call: mandate the use of masks in public.
Just three months ago, the state was blinded by a blizzard of virus infections, illnesses and crises. Unable to determine who would become sick next and just how stressed hospitals across the state would become, state and local health departments began shutting down schools and businesses.
Colorado, like every other state, was completely unprepared for a pandemic. That precarious situation became dire as the Trump Administration bungled one critical decision after another. Trump first had delayed action to avoid politically bad optics. The CDC shipped malfunctioning virus tests, and then all tests became scarce. Trump began politicizing and interfering with the distribution of critical medical supplies among the states. The worst were the daily sideshow Trump press conferences erupting misinformation and even dangerous disinformation.
As recent as Saturday, Trump said he’s asked his administration to slow the rate of testing to make it appear there are fewer COVID-19 cases than there really are across the country. Later, some staffers said it was a joke. The level of malfeasance by the president is as unprecedented as the pandemic itself.
Despite those dangers, Gov. Jared Polis, and most state and county health officials have, on the fly, created entirely new government regulations for every business, every hospital, every public place and, ultimately, every resident. It was the pandemic equivalent of on-the-job training for all but a very few who’d seen all this in far-away places.
The Sentinel and many others have often agreed with or stipulated a veritable encyclopedia of science, rules and mandates issued by Polis and officials like Dr. John Douglas, chief of the Tri-County Health Department.
Current rates of testing, infection, public interaction, and most importantly, hospitalization, currently uphold what at the time seemed to be risky guess work.
Neighboring states that have gone a different route were clearly just as wrong. Texas, Utah and especially Arizona, which have not cajoled or demanded people stay away from each other, are on the road to additional disaster.
This week, Colorado will decide whether to further “open Colorado” permitting larger public events, more tourism, more of everything.
Because of the apparent successes Polis and others have illustrated, they wield trust to move into this new phase of regulation. This phase, barring an Arizona-like problem, will likely become Colorado’s new normal for months, or even years.
Calling it “Protect Our Neighbors,” it’s essentially the best we can all hope for until a cure or vaccine for COVID-19 is found and administered among most of the population.
Industries that are withering or nearly bankrupt depend on this new phase, and they’re pushing for even higher limits than proposed on the size of crowds at venues like conference centers. The current plan calls for a limit of 50% of capacity or 500, whichever is less.
Given the short history of the pandemic that got Colorado to this point, it makes sense to impose the proposed rules and allow county and state health officials to permit variances after plans are reviewed.
But it also makes sense to quit being coy about mandating the use of masks in public. While so much of the science surrounding the pandemic is new and developing, no one with any solid credentials disagrees that virus transmissions are substantially and directly reduced by people wearing masks in public. Yet Polis and a bevy of elected officials refuse to make it a mandate, like they already have in Denver and Wheat Ridge.
Some elected officials feel it’s too personal a mandate or that it will lead to trouble by scofflaws. After shutting down the state, watching more than 1,600 Coloradans die from COVID-19 and struggling through disruptions that will echo for decades, requiring the cheap, simple use of masks to make this third-phase of mandates tenable is not a big deal. By refusing to impose a statewide restriction based on levels of infection only continues to make it a big deal.
If Colorado can maintain the current level of infection and public interaction with 60% of people wearing masks in public, it could be that upwards of 100% compliance could allow for return to schools, larger venue operations and life more like it was before the pandemic, until a vaccine program is fulfilled.
Imposing the restriction now, along with this third phase of regulation makes sense. Waiting for what is clearly inevitable is counter to how Polis and others have accomplished what they have so far.