John Scarffe, Gilpin County. Newly elected Representative Judy Amabile conducted a town hall for Gilpin County with Senator Tammy Story. Guests included Gilpin County Commissioners Sandy Hollingsworth and Linda Isenhart, Central City Mayor Jeremy Fey, Gilpin County Emergency Manager Nate Whittington, Gilpin County Public Health Coordinator Bonnie Albrecht, and Jody Erwin, Deputy Director of Jefferson County Public Health. 

Senator Tammy Story said she was delighted to be here. She represents District 16, which includes Gilpin and Boulder Counties.

“We have done quite a lot since we wrapped up the session in June,” she said. They had three days last week to take care of administrative things and a few bills. The Senate will start again on February 16, 2021, and they hope Covid-19 will calm down. 

Story said she is working on a situation that concerns the Colorado Natural Gas Co. The company has had significant infrastructure deficiencies, and she wants to talk with anyone who has been a customer. A public hearing will be conducted in March. 

Jody Erwin and Bonnie Albrecht said it has been a long ten months, but they see a light at the end of the tunnel. They described the Dial framework for Covid-19, which has six levels. The dial measures six metrics including new cases, positivity and hospitalizations. Level purple is overwhelming hospitals, and the goal is not to overwhelm the hospitals. To see updates on the dial, go to covid19.colorado.gov.

Measures are calculated on a14 day rolling average, the percent of positivity, people coming back positive and how much spread in the community. Hospitalizations are based on increases whether they are stable or declining. 

So far, Gilpin County has had 140 cases and two deaths. The County could be moved to yellow, and they are optimistic to see numbers coming down. According to the website, as of January 26, 2021, Gilpin County has 144 confirmed Covid-19 cases, one hospitalization and two Covid related deaths. The two week average positivity rate is 2.7 percent.

Colorado is doing well and Gilpin County is doing great. They are trying to stay focused on students going back to school and businesses opening again. 

They encouraged staying focused on the message of masking, social distancing and washing hands. A lot of interest has been expressed in the vaccine.

“We don’t have all the vaccines we want and could get out more than we have. We are waiting for a big push that is not happening.” 

Albrecht said the County has been allowed to vaccinate first-care responders and those over 70. They have a registration link on the Public Health website page, http://www.gilpincounty.org/departments_offices/public_health_agency, and people can call 303-515-3452. Those on the list will be contacted. 

Boulder County Health discussed the Five Star Program, which allows businesses to function at a lower level on the dial, so businesses can apply to operate in the level yellow if the businesses apply safety measures beyond what is already required. 

Erwin said that at the end of summer, people were burned out and were having backyard parties. “We just keep sharing that message. It’s not going to come that quickly. This thing is still raging on.”

Central City Mayor Jeremy Fey said he walks the casinos every other day and is seeing a wonderful adherence to rules and enforcement with staff and guests. They don’t have a single confirmed case. He is getting requests to open table games at the casinos. 

Cases of casino employees have gone down and are continuing to. Erwin said they are not sure on the system for vaccines and will make the push to the governor to share the allocation process. They thought it was coming this week and it wasn’t. 

Whittington said they are looking at plans for a mass community vaccination. Erwin said she has been working with Gilpin County for 14 years to be prepared for this. They have vaccinated just over 400 people in the county.

Representative Judy Amabile Judy said she and Tammy Story are working on a bill. Gilpin County was the hardest hit county in the state with the pandemic. They want to make sure gaming funds are equitably distributed, and that Gilpin County is making itself available for all funds. 

Story addressed questions about fire mitigation. The Senate is working on passing a budget that had $3 billion slashed, and all departments were affected. Congressman Joe Nugese fully understands the wildfire risk and continues to help with mitigation and wildfire risk. 

Asked about whether the closure of forest lands will be continued, Whittington said 2020 was unique, and it will be case by case. “We will have to wait for what the season brings,” he said.

Story said the circumstances were unique this year. Covid drew people out to parks and some parks were overrun. They had hundreds of cars where people tried to park. 

Some fires were human caused. The effort was to limit the number of people in our federal lands. It is necessary to mitigate while the environment is ripe for fires, Story said.

“As we move forward, while we have an economic and health care crisis to deal with, we can’t afford not to work on issues like transportation, education, housing and a lot of significant issues we can’t afford to set aside. If you have suggestions or topics to consider, I’m willing to hear from you to work on those things,” Story said. 

Amabile said to reach out to her and she will love hearing from you. “I think we are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.” To contact her go to https://judyamabile.com/.