Polis asks Coloradans to wear face coverings when leaving the house

Gov. Jared Polis announced April 3 the Colorado Mask Campaign encouraging Coloradans to wear nonmedical cloth face coverings when leaving the home for essential business. The goal is for every Coloradan to have a nonmedical mask by April 15. Do not purchase surgical masks, as they are needed by health care workers and first responders.

Everyone should wear a mask when outside of their home for necessary activities such as grocery shopping or walking the dog. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced that up to 1 in 4 people infected with COVID-19 are asymptomatic and spreading infected respiratory droplets. If people wear face coverings, it will help reduce spread.

Do not go out to buy fabric to make a mask. A T-shirt, dish towel, bandana or other fabric you already have at home can be used to make a mask. For instructions or more information, visit www.coloradomask project.com.

Remember that the stay-at-home order is still in effect. Coloradans can only leave their homes for essential activities, including grocery shopping, exercise, walking a dog, work at a critical business or seeking medical care. When leaving the house for such activities, stay 6 feet away from others and wear a mask.

People who are sick are required to stay in their homes at all times except as necessary to seek medical care. They cannot go to work, even for critical business.

No travel by automobile or public transit is allowed except necessary travel for such activities as listed above.

“We know that Coloradans across our state are making personal sacrifices to prioritize the public health and safety of their family and neighbors,” said Polis. “The better job we do at staying home and wearing facial masks whenever we absolutely must go out to contain the virus in Colorado, the sooner we can return to something resembling economic normalcy. Refusing to stay at home will only extend the state’s economic pain.”

Colorado’s crisis standards of care revised

Revised crisis standards of care documents were approved by the Governor’s Expert Emergency Epidemic Response Committee on April 5 in light of COVID-19. The documents will be used to revise the full and final crisis standards of care plan.

Crisis standards of care are guidelines for how the medical community should allocate scarce resources such as ventilators and intensive care unit beds in the extreme case when patient needs exceed the resources available.

Of course the state hopes to avoid using the crisis standards of care, but Colorado must be prepared for that possibility.

If necessary, a tiered approach will be used by the crisis triage team to determine who gets the limited resources.

Tier 1 should be an objective blinded triage score that combines measures of severity of acute illness with measures of chronic illness.

In the event of a tie, Tier 2 will give consideration for a scarce resource to pediatric patients, health care workers and first responders.

In the event of another tie, Tier 3 will give special considerations including pregnancy, life-years saved and the multiplier effect (e.g. single caregivers).

Finally, Tier 4 will use a lottery system for allocation.

The crisis standards of care also stipulate that the primary medical team caring for a patient should not be involved in crisis triage decision-making for their own patient. The triage team should consist of a physician with hospital or critical care experience, a nurse, an ethicist/palliative care specialist and a representative of the hospital leadership with a designated triage officer/triage leader.

Blanket do-not-resuscitate orders for an entire population of patients (e.g. all patients with COVID-19) are inappropriate.

In-person instruction suspended through April 30

Polis has extended the suspension of in-person instruction in Colorado schools through April 30.

Holyoke Re-1J Superintendent Kyle Stumpf, in an April 1 letter on the school’s website, addressed the ongoing situation in the school district and the state regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

He indicated there’s an increased likelihood that in-person instruction will not resume this school year.

The Colorado Department of Education has waived the minimum number of school days and teacher-pupil contact hours required by state law for the current school year.

Stumpf emphasized that the school year will not be extended, nor will the district start school any earlier in August.

With regard to resuming in-person instruction this school year, Stumpf said Polis directed that it is up to local-control school boards.

With that announcement last Friday, Stumpf said that 16 larger school districts made the decision to cancel face-to-face instruction for the rest of the year.

Stumpf said the Holyoke school board was planning to discuss that at its April 7 meeting.

He doesn’t anticipate that a decision will be made, but the board will discuss benefits of waiting for a directive from the governor or moving forward.

Stumpf said the district is looking at all options to hold a graduation ceremony at some time, even if it isn’t on May 17.

Taxpayer filing requirements for certain taxable property delayed

On April 2, Polis signed an executive order extending the responsibility to file certain documents and information typically due to county assessors April 15. This does not affect payment dates, or forgive the necessity to ultimately file, but relieves an administrative burden on certain businesses and owners of taxable property to file by April 15.

In the order, the governor directed the State Board of Equalization to promulgate emergency rules to extend these filing deadlines to June 15. The governor further directed the board to amend the remainder of the assessment calendar to adjust the time frame for county assessors and county boards of equalization to complete their work, offer taxpayers time to protest and appeal value, and still certify values by the final Dec. 10 certification date.

Property types include:

1. Taxable (business) personal property, C.R.S. §§ 39-5-108 and 39-5-116(1).

2. Taxable natural resource property (mining), C.R.S. §§ 39-5-115(1), 39-5-116(1), 39-6-106(1) and 39-6-113(3).

3. Taxable oil and gas property, C.R.S. §§ 39-7-101(1), (2); 39-5-113.3(1); and 39-5-116(1).

The State Board of Equalization will meet this week to promulgate the emergency rules necessary to execute this order.

Stay-at-home order extended until April 26

On April 6, Polis amended several executive orders related to the state’s COVID-19 response. Most notably, the stay-at-home order is now in effect until April 26. Elective and nonessential surgeries and procedures are also suspended until April 26. The order to reduce in-person workforces by 50% was rescinded.

Polis also extended the order limiting evictions, foreclosures and public utility disconnections and expediting unemployment insurance claims to April 30. The personal appearance requirement for notarization is also suspended until April 30.

Local events canceled

Lions Club Bingo is now canceled through May. The Holyoke High School alumni banquet scheduled for May 24 has been canceled.