Today, Governor Polis was joined by Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, Senate President Leroy Garcia, and Speaker-designate Alec Garnett, to provide an update on the state and local response to the spike in COVID-19 positivity rates, cases, and hospitalizations.
Over the last few weeks, we’ve been sounding the alarm on the trends observed here in Colorado.
Rising case numbers, record hospitalizations and increasing positivity rates all indicate that there is more coronavirus in our communities now than there was in the spring.Last week, over the span of three days, we went from reporting:
This isn’t just a problem in someone else’s community. It’s right here in our own backyard:
Additionally:
Extraordinary times call for extraordinary actions, and in Colorado, we help our own.
In the spring, many Coloradans were buoyed by the support of one-time payments or unemployment benefits from the federal government. This federal safety net is not there today.
That’s why a few weeks ago, Governor Polis took action in consultation with legislative leadership to provide a direct one-time $375 cash payment to over 435,000 Coloradans who have faced unemployment during the pandemic.
Governor Polis Sounding the AlarmNovember18, 2020 Governor Polis announced that he will be calling the legislature into a special session in the near future to provide immediate relief to the economic and financial hardships that many Coloradans are facing and could continue to face in the winter months.
The special session will include the following items:
Taking further action, another letter will also be sent to the federal government with local governments urging Washington D.C. to pass another critical stimulus package to provide robust state and local relief to Coloradans.
The Governor thanked Senate President Leroy Garcia, and Speaker-designate Alec Garnett, as well as other members of the leadership, and the Joint Budget Committeefor their partnership, and commitment to delivering relief now.
Changes to the Dial Framework The Governor knows that many Coloradans have been doing their part. People have been wearing your masks, staying home as much as possible, and interacting with those only in their household. However, we need a much more drastic shift in behavior to slow the transmission of this virus.
That’s why CDPHE is making updates to the Red level of the COVID-19 dial that will ask Coloradans to avoid all interactions with people outside of their households to help lower transmission rates. The updated dial will be effective Friday, November 20, 2020.
Counties in the Red level are considered at severe risk and will be subject to updated restrictions, including:
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