Following a surge in coronavirus cases among residents age 18-29, Boulder County Public Health on Tuesday issued a “strong recommendation” to every CU Boulder student living in Boulder to quarantine in their homes or residence halls for 14 days.
Individuals should not leave their residences unless it is for work, in-person class, to get food, to take care of children or parents or to get medical attention that cannot be provided remotely, according to a news release from the public health department. The recommended quarantine will last until 11:59 p.m. Sept. 29.
“We must stop this spike in cases. It affects the health, safety and livelihood of all of our Boulder County residents,” Boulder County Public Health Executive Director Jeff Zayach stated in the release. “While this isn’t a perfect solution, it’s our hope that this will halt the current spread of the virus and allow us to better control transmission of this virus in the county.”
CU Boulder supports the measure and is communicating accordingly to students.
“We are cooperating fully with Boulder County Public Health for the health and safety of everyone in our community,” CU Boulder Chancellor Philip DiStefano stated. “The next several days are critical for us to avoid more stringent restrictions on our campus operations. We need more students to do their part and follow public health guidelines at this important moment.”
Boulder City Manager Jane Brautigam will issue an emergency order Wednesday requiring certain “nuisance properties” to comply with the quarantine. Brautigam announced the order at a City Council meeting tonight and will issue the order Wednesday, focusing on properties identified by the Boulder Police Department as not complying with coronavirus public health orders.
Addresses of the nuisance properties were not immediately available, Boulder spokesperson Sarah Huntley said, but they will be included in the emergency order Wednesday.
City Attorney Tom Carr added that if the two-week quarantine that is being “strongly suggested” by Boulder County Public Health doesn’t work, the health department will make it a mandatory order.
Public health cited large, off-campus gatherings, particularly among sororities, fraternities and other students living in Boulder’s University Hill neighborhood, along with no masks being worn and physical distancing not being practiced, for the recent surge in COVID-19 cases, the release states.
CU Boulder will support students on campus with testing and resources to support the quarantine including food and medical assistance as well as mental health support, the release states.
COVID-19 testing site coming to county
Public health also announced Tuesday that a free, walk-up testing site will be brought to Boulder beginning Wednesday and open through Sept. 30.
The site, in the parking lot of 1205 Pleasant St., is through a partnership with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the release states, and a drive-thru test site is “in the very near future.”
“We want to make sure there are no barriers for students to know if they might be spreading this virus,” Zayach stated. “By having free and easy testing available, we can more quickly and effectively identify and separate those who are ill.”
Anyone can visit the site, and no appointment is necessary. There is no cost for the test. Residents do not need to have symptoms to be tested, according to the release, and should bring a form of identification and wear a mask at all times.
The clinic will be open daily — including weekends — from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and could be extended past Sept. 30 depending on positivity rates.
Results should be returned in 24 to 48 hours.
“These are just two of the many steps we are taking in partnership with CU and the city to protect our entire community,” Zayach stated. “We will share more information about additional steps we’re planning as soon as the legal and logistical issues are worked out.”
Boulder County Public Health Spokeswoman Chana Goussetis said legal and logistical issues “can include things like what additional legal actions are possible and effective, and how best to implement different strategies within our current structures, with our current resources.”
CU alludes to changes in late Monday letter
CU Boulder officials announced that 71% of the university’s positive coronavirus cases through Friday involve people who live off-campus, a letter sent to students late Monday stated.
The letter from Chancellor Phil DiStefano and Associate Vice Chancellor for Integrity, Safety and Compliance Dan Jones foreshadowed the recommended quarantine for local students, noting campus officials had been working with counterparts in Boulder, Boulder County and the state to discuss options and that they expected to begin new testing strategies and other measures to “change behaviors contributing to the increase.”
The letter noted the county has quarantined residents at four sorority houses.
Contact tracing also shows there is little evidence of spread when infectious people attend classes, the letter notes, saying Boulder County Public Health does not have concerns about in-person classes because of the required masking and social distancing, decreased campus density and increased ventilation.
“From disease investigations, we’re seeing transmission primarily from gatherings in the evening and between roommates, particularly in houses with many residents,” Gousettis wrote in an email Tuesday.
Gousettis noted that because most of the transmission is happening off-campus, the county is not sure how effective shutting down in-person learning would be at actually curbing spread.
“We’ve heard concerns from many Boulder and Boulder County residents about college-age residents participating in large gatherings and parties,” Gousettis wrote. “We’ve heard fears for personal safety, and despair at feeling powerlessness to live their lives safely because of the actions of others. We’ve received calls to close campus and return students back to their home communities.”
But, Gousettis added, “Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as closing campus; it won’t be effective in stopping social gatherings because most students live off-campus.”
Still, the letter from CU Boulder acknowledged officials will need to reconsider campus status if bad behavior does not change.
“The national discourse has centered around whether colleges can meet this moment and if students can rise to the challenge,” the letter states. “We know how. It requires compliance with public health guidance. And we believe we can do it.”
Camera Staff Writer Katie Langford contributed to this report.