Gov. Polis To Look At Extending Stay-At-Home Order In About A Week

Colorado Governor Jared Polis speaks on Wednesday, April 1, 2020 in Centennial.

Wednesday, Gov. Jared Polis said he is still about a week away from potentially extending the stay-at-home order for Colorado.

"We are going to look at the science and data in real time," the governor said. "I hope and I know we all hope that doesn't have to go to April 30th. On the other hand, according to the President's guidance and the data we have today, it quite likely might need to be extended beyond April 11th. But it's not a call we're going to make on April 1st. We don't know where we're going to be in ten days."

"We're going to give people notice," the governor added. "We're going to make it based on the data we have a few days ahead of time. It depends on how successful we are staying at home. If we're successful at staying at home and reducing the spread of the virus, we can roll off that most severe stay-at-home order sooner."

That doesn't mean things become normal right away. It's all about when we can provide the maximum degree of flexibility and economic activity at the minimum risk. It also depends on how we're successfully implementing the health surge that Scott Bookman outlined."

As expected, Gov. Polis also formally extended the closure of schools in Colorado through April 30 and said districts are preparing for the likelihood of not resuming normal classroom activities this academic year, a topic he covered in his remarks on Monday.

Bookman, the Incident Commander for the Colorado Department of Health and Environment, also spoke on Wednesday and gave a status report on the preparations for an expected surge on the Colorado healthcare system and what still needs to be done.

Gov. Polis said he is "moving Heaven and earth" to get Colorado healthcare workers the personal protection equipment (PPE) needed to deal with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

He said the state his working to secure the following PPE:

--2.5 million N95 masks

--1 million surgical masks

--250,000 gowns

--25,000 face shields

--1.5 million pair of gloves

In addition, the governor said Colorado is trying to get 750 ventilators.

Gov. Polis says he continues to press those in his administration to speed up the preparations to deal with the expected surge in Colorado.

Gov. Polis also updated the COVID-19 numbers in Colorado. As of 4 p.m. MDT on Wednesday, April 1 in Colorado:

--3,342 identified cases of COVID-19

--620 people hospitalized

--80 deaths

--50 counties affected

--18,645 people tested

The statistics are updated every day at 4 p.m. MDT at www.COVID19.Colorado.gov (click on "Colorado case summary" on the right side of that page.

KOA NewsRadio's Jerry Bell highlights the latest Colorado COVID-19 stats.

Jerry has more on the governor's efforts to secure PPE for healthcare workers.

Jerry reports on the governor formally closing schools through April 30 and his comments about needing to limit travel to the Colorado high country.

Full remarks from Gov. Polis and Scott Workman.