Courtesy of Aspen Valley Hospital
It’s no secret that the Roaring Fork Valley’s three counties are interconnected and frequented by seasonal visitors, and those factors show up in the latest COVID-19 vaccine data. In the four months since vaccine rollout began in the area, more than 40% of all doses administered in Pitkin County went to people who reside outside of the County – and health officials say that is by design.
Carly Senst, Pitkin County’s vaccine coordinator, said two groups of non-residents are driving that trend. The first is the county’s workforce. About half of people working in Pitkin County reside downvalley in Eagle and Garfield counties. Many people qualified and arranged appointments for vaccines through their place of employment.
A Mountain Rescue Aspen member, who declined to provide his name, vaccinates Lisa Kilby with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine alongside Jackie Lapid, right, and dog Freya in their car at the vaccine tent in Aspen on Friday, April 9, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
Top officials with the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority are disappointed a $500 bonus for employees who get the COVID-19 vaccine has not spurred more action.
As of Tuesday, 212 out of 385 employees for the public transit agency had been fully vaccinated, Jason Smith, RFTA’s safety and training manager, informed the board of directors at a meeting Thursday. Another 18 employees had one dose at that time, he said, boosting the number of fully or partially vaccinated employees to 59%.
Pitkin County Public Health on why strict COVID-19 measures remain in place
Continued winter tourism, COVID-19 fatigue, variants and a changing population could all play a part in Pitkin County s high COVID-19 incidence rate. Author: Katie Eastman Updated: 5:08 PM MDT April 6, 2021
PITKIN COUNTY, Colo. In January, Pitkin County officials voted to voluntarily return to Level Red on the state dial because their incidence rates of COVID-19 were the highest in the state. They are now in the slightly less restrictive phase of Orange, but are only one of two counties in that level. Summit County will go backward and join them on Wednesday, April 7. Both counties are seeing most of their cases in young adults in the 20s and 30s. Pitkin County s Interim Director of Public Health, Jordana Sabella explains.
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However, for others with lingering symptoms of the coronavirus, that light is harder to see.
“Well, it feels like I’m living a nightmare,” said Clay Shiflet, an Aspen Middle School teacher and valley resident who’s been suffering the effects of COVID-19 for a year. “Literally, it’s hard to wrap your head around feeling like you have something that’s become chronic, essentially.”
Shiflet and others are known as “long-haulers,” and studies across the country are showing that more and more people afflicted with the virus report symptoms that just won’t go away. The number of long-haulers appears to vary, with a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association and a study by British scientists estimating that 10% of COVID-19 patients belong to that group, though others have suggested the number is much higher.