Social distancing and the governor’s stay-at-home order have pushed the expected peak of coronavirus cases in Colorado to May or later, state officials said at a Thursday press conference.

“Social distancing has worked, and we have pushed that curve to the right as we’ve hoped to,” said Scott Bookman, incident commander for the state’s coronavirus response.

The state now has an excess of ventilators and is preparing for more to arrive, including the 100 promised earlier this week by President Donald Trump. Those are expected to arrive within 24 hours, officials said, adding that a surge of patients is still expected in the coming weeks.

But a lack of specimen collection kits and personal protective equipment persists, Bookman said, adding that the state is considering sterilization methods that would allow for the repeat usage of such equipment.

A little over $50 million has been spent by the state on personal protective equipment, much of which will be reimbursable, said Mike Willis, director of the state’s emergency operations center.

Some measure of social distancing will likely persist as the state transitions out of the stay-at-home order, Willis said, particularly to protect vulnerable populations.

“You can expect to be encouraged to do social distancing for the foreseeable future,” he said.

In other news from the press conference:

– State officials refused to provide an answer as to whether law enforcement have the authority to detain individuals for being out during the stay-at-home order, but said officers are not contacting individuals simply for being outside.

– There are members of the state’s emergency operation staff who are self-quarantined, Willis said. But officials twice refused to answer whether emergency operations staff, beyond the one whose positive test was announced Saturday, and the governor had been tested for the virus.

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