DENVER (KDVR) — The Colorado Public Interest Research Group (CoPIRG) on Wednesday called for the state to shut down again and reenact stay-at-home orders.
The progressive Denver-based organization describes itself as “an independent, non-partisan group that works for consumers and the public interest.”
It said it is gravely concerned by the deaths of more than 1,700 Coloradans due to COVID-19.
According to state data, more than 49,000 Coloradans have confirmed cases of the virus.
“Colorado needs to hit the reset button. We’re five months into this pandemic. Our goal should no longer be to keep the virus at a level where it doesn’t inundate hospitals. Our goal should be reducing infection rates to a point where we can contain it and stop any more unnecessary deaths. The best thing for Colorado would be for as many of us as possible to not die from COVID-19,” said Allison Conwell a CoPIRG advocate.
CoPIRG is calling for the following changes:
- Require mask wearing in all public indoor and outdoor places along with social distancing guidelines
- Re-enact the Stay at Home order
- Ban non-essential interstate travel
- Issue a mandatory quarantine period for people entering the state from COVID-19 hotspots
CoPIRG wants those requirements to stay in place until:
- Test positivity rate is consistently lower than 3%
- Enough daily testing capacity to test everyone with flu-like symptoms plus anyone they have been in close contact with over the last two weeks (at least 10 additional tests per symptomatic person)
- Currently, Colorado is testing 44% of people it needs to per day
- A workforce of contact tracers large enough to trace all current cases
- Enough personal protective equipment (PPE) to keep essential workers such as health professionals, emergency responders and grocery store clerks safe
“We applaud Colorado for being one of the first states to shut down when COVID-19 was spreading across the country. Unfortunately, we failed to use the time we were given during our first shut down to get COVID-19 under control and our re-opening is leading to unnecessary infections and deaths. We must shut down, start over, and do it right this time,” said Conwell.