Skiers get in the queue for the Elk Camp gondola in Snowmass on Dec. 21, 2020.
With local cases of COVID-19 at an “astronomical” level, Pitkin County will voluntarily move to Red level restrictions for nearly all sectors starting Tuesday.
The only two exceptions to the Red level will be restaurants which will be allowed to operate at current 25% indoor capacity with a 9:30 p.m. last call and hard close at 10 p.m. and indoor events that followed the rules and submitted safety plans by Sunday.
The county’s request last week to extend last call in Aspen to 11 p.m. during the two-week period around Christmas was denied by Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Director Jill Hunsacker Ryan, said Jordana Sabella, the county’s interim public health director. With a skyrocketing incidence rate, the county should implement more restrictions, not less, according to Ryan’s letter to the county.
Not only did members of the Pitkin County Board of Health decide not to move into Red level restrictions Thursday, they voted to increase the maximum number of people allowed at private, informal gatherings in the county from five to 10.
Pitkin County’s traveler affidavit program appears to be getting a mixed reaction through a spate of recent vacation cancellations and national exposure that the Aspen area is a safe place to visit.
Public confusion over the program, announced by Pitkin County the first week of December, has prompted a number of would-be guests to shelf their plans to visit Aspen over the upcoming holidays, Debbie Braun, president of Aspen Chamber Resort Association, told the Pitkin County Board of Health during its virtual meeting Thursday.
It also has local decision-makers considering putting on their best PR face for the program by emphasizing its benefits.