A disaster has been declared in a southwest Colorado county as new cases of COVID-19 have ravaged its small communities.

San Juan County, home to just over 700, has seen a dramatic uptick in cases since the first week of August, leading to a county-wide disaster declaration as well as a local public health order requiring people to wear masks indoors whether or not they’ve been vaccinated.

“Hospital beds are filling quickly with COVID patients, and our regional healthcare system is beginning to struggle,” health officer Dr. Frank James said in a Thursday release. “We all need to sacrifice to reduce that strain, even those of us who are vaccinated.”

Since Aug. 5, the county has seen 24 new cases of the virus, out of 76 total cases, according to data released by the public health department. Nine of those 24 cases occurred in fully vaccinated people, which the public health department said was expected given the high vaccination rates in the county.

According to state data, the county has also seen at least one day of one to two hospitalizations over the last two weeks.

“If these were our statistics last summer, businesses and the community would be in ‘Shelter in Place’ according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment,” public health director Becky Joyce said.

So on Wednesday, Aug. 11, the three-member San Juan Board of County Commissioners unanimously enacted a universal indoor mask order for the county in response to the spike in positive cases, the same day the public health department’s medical director recommended a county-wide mask mandate.

That order went into effect at midnight on Friday, Aug. 13.

“Part of our success last summer was the mask mandate and it is a necessary decision to stop the current COVID-19 outbreak happening community-wide here in Silverton and San Juan County,” Joyce said.

Masks will only be required for people indoors, and the county has not reimposed indoor capacity regulations or any other restrictions for businesses.

With much of the surge in cases among the unvaccinated, the health department added that vaccines against COVID-19 were the “best defense” against the virus.

“We ask our community to be flexible during this outbreak and be a part of the solution to stop the spread. We have come a long way in this pandemic but by no means is it over yet and we still have a way to go.”

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