EL PASO COUNTY — El Paso County commissioners again extended the counties COVID-19 emergency declaration. "To ensure that the emergency dollars continue to flow in a free and open manner," said El Paso County Commission, Chair, Stan VanderWerf.
The extension happens as Colorado reaches the one year mark of its COVID-19 response starting in the state. "We really had no idea how long this would go, I think many of us were hoping, including myself that it would maybe be a few months," said VanderWerf
The last week of February a year ago, there were a few confirmed cases of COVID-19 in other states. That week Colorado Governor Jared Polis held a press conference to address the potential threat. He said, “We’ll be critical, should a case come to Colorado.” There were no cases in Colorado at the time. Within a week the first case was identified.
The count of Colorado Covid -19 cases started with single digit numbers the first week of March 2020. When March 2021 arrives in just days, the number will be over 424,000. Some 6,000 people in Colorado have died from the virus.
