This morning, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock held a press conference along with other local and statewide officials to discuss and answer questions concerning COVID-19. They took several questions and seem to be fairly transparent about where they are in terms of fighting the virus. Although, they don’t seem to have much information at this point, we certainly still have a long way to go.
They have taken some major steps to combat homelessness in the city and opening several rooms to house more of the homeless and others who need temporary support.
Here are some other major points of the press conference:
- ~100 deaths in Denver (mostly senior citizens in assisted living homes)
- 1750 positive cases
- New cases appear to be stabilizing, encouraging signs that social distancing is working
- This is a critical week to determine if data supports the relaxation of easing up on stay at home orders
- Top priorities are increasing testing/antibodies testing and retraining staff for contact tracing
- It will be a slow phased and controlled re-opening
- 80% of hospital beds and 2/3 of respirators available
- Continue with facemasks – required for essential personnel in the workplace
- Lifting the stay at home orders are not set in stone – the next 7-10 days will give a lot of information
- The order for restaurants, venues, and public locations will be extended past May 11, however, they are putting in plans for easing into re-opening (operating at 50% capacity and incrementally allowing more)
- Large gatherings will be last to come back (“It will be a very different summer for those of us here in Denver, Colorado” – Mayor Hancock)
- Denver has adequate PPE for frontline workers but does not have a stockpile
Watch the entire press conference below: