The Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute Indian Tribes in southwestern Colorado have revived coronavirus restrictions on gatherings, hoping to quell coronavirus case numbers that have risen to the highest point since the pandemic began in 2020, according to tribal spokespeople. The Ute Mountain Ute tribal council Monday imposed its second-most stringent coronavirus precautions — […]
San Juan Basin Public Health
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Education, News
COVID outbreaks have shut down some Colorado schools. Will holidays and cold weather make things worse?
When COVID-19 swept through an elementary, middle and high school in Pagosa Springs in November, many kids in Archuleta School District #50 JT once again had to abandon the classroom to learn at home. Along with shutting down the high school for five school days amid a string of staff absences, the rural southwest Colorado […]
Posted inCOVID, Health, News
Pressure grows on Gov. Jared Polis for a mask mandate to slow rising coronavirus cases
As coronavirus infections and hospitalizations continue to climb in Colorado, directors of county public health agencies and other medical leaders have begun urgently calling on Gov. Jared Polis to issue a statewide mask mandate. Last week, the Colorado Association of Local Public Health Officials sent a letter to Polis asking for a new order requiring […]
Posted inCOVID, Health, News
Tourists are flocking to Colorado this summer — and they’re bringing COVID with them
In the fight against the coronavirus, Pitkin County has a lot going for it. The county, home to well-heeled Aspen, has one of the highest vaccination rates in the state. Among all its residents, of any age, 63% are fully immunized. So, when the county’s coronavirus infection rates soared in recent weeks, health officials in […]
Posted inHealth, News, Outdoors
Plague found in fleas collected after death of 10-year-old girl in southwest Colorado
Laboratory tests confirmed the presence of the plague in fleas collected in La Plata County after a 10-year-old girl died from the disease earlier this month, public health officials said. The plague-positive fleas were collected from a private property in south central La Plata County after residents reported a nearby prairie dog colony had gone […]
Posted inHealth, News
10-year-old girl was killed by plague in southwest Colorado
By Shannon Mullane, The Durango Herald A 10-year-old girl from La Plata County is the first person to die from plague in Colorado since 2015, San Juan Basin Public Health officials confirmed Friday afternoon. Although public health officials did not identify the victim, in a letter emailed Thursday to members of the 4-H Weaselskin Club, […]
Posted inHealth, News
A person may have died from plague in Colorado for the first time in six years
Public health officials are investigating what may have been Colorado’s first human plague death in six years. San Juan Basin Public Health was notified of the potential case in La Plata County on July 7, according to a news release from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, which is leading the investigation. CDPHE […]
Posted inCOVID, News
Why are Colorado’s rural counties vaccinating people faster than urban ones?
Across much of the Front Range and Colorado’s other biggest counties, securing a coronavirus vaccine remains an arduous endeavor. Overloaded websites. Lengthy wait lists. Hair-pulling frustration. But, in southwest Colorado, the state’s smallest county has a different problem: It’s run out of people to vaccinate, at least for now. Barely two months after shots started […]
Posted inBusiness, COVID, Energy, Environment, Health, News, Politics and Government
Overhaul of Colorado oil and gas rules, stalled by coronavirus, gets going again — on Zoom
Colorado is in the throes of the most extensive rewrite of its oil and gas regulations in more than a decade, under deadlines now busted by the novel coronavirus pandemic – but regulators are soldiering on with the state’s first Zoom-based rulemaking. For now the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission is relying on electronic […]