News

The city of Durango issued a stay-at-home advisory Tuesday in an effort to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

La Plata County has reported one case of COVID-19, in part because of limited testing, but health officials have advised the community to act as though the novel coronavirus is actively spreading in the region. Durango adopted the advisory recently issued by San Juan Basin Public Health to limit the spread of the virus.

“This decision was not made lightly, but we need to do everything we can to keep our community safe during this public health emergency,” said Amber Blake, interim city manager, in a news release. “The city of Durango is hopeful that the governor of Colorado will issue a stay-at-home order so the entire state will have the same requirements.”

Health officials believe the best way to control the virus is to limit activity in non-essential businesses and to require people to confine themselves at home, according to the city’s advisory.

During the stay-at-home advisory, people should confine themselves to their homes, limit non-essential activities and prevent, or at least minimize, social contact, according to SJBPH.

Because it is an advisory, the public’s compliance is voluntary. The measure will remain in place until further notice, Blake said Tuesday in an interview.

The advisory is “critical” to encourage compliance with mitigation measures and to ensure people have a uniform understanding of what they should and should not be doing, she said in a news release.

The measures are particularly important to people who fall into high-risk categories, including those with other health risks, like chronic diseases or diabetes, and older adults. Most of Colorado’s COVID-19 cases, which totaled 912 on Tuesday, came from adults ages 40 to 49, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

smullane@durangoherald.com