Industry News
Updated state data shows 109 reported cases in the COVID-19 outbreak among employees at Winter Park Resort in Colorado, says the Sky-Hi News. All cases were found in employee housing, and there is nothing to suggest that any guests have been infected.
Only two cases are required for an outbreak to be declared. According to the CDC website:
A recommended definition is a situation that is consistent with either of two sets of criteria:
During (and because of) a case investigation and contact tracing, two or more contacts are identified as having active COVID-19, regardless of their assigned priority.
OR
Two or more patients with COVID-19 are discovered to be linked, and the linkage is established outside of a case investigation and contact tracing (e.g., two patients who received a diagnosis of COVID-19 are found to work in the same office, and only one or neither of them was listed as a contact to the other).
Winter Park Resort, CO and Grand County Public Health (GCPH) released a joint statement Monday night declaring a COVID-19 outbreak among resort employees. By reporting the outbreak, more resources can now be made available to the resort to combat the spread among workers.
Through case investigations, it has been determined that these cases have not been traced back to transmission through interaction with visitors but, rather, from social gatherings outside of the workplace and congregate housing.
– Joint Statement
Winter Park Resort has an onsite testing site that they have managed since December and has consistently utilized GCPH testing sites as deemed necessary. It was noticed last week that infections were rising among employees. Winter Park has worked closely and been transparent with state and local public health authorities since the onset of the pandemic and in recent weeks to navigate these dynamic circumstances.
Winter Park has implemented robust contact tracing among employees throughout the past few months, which has helped GCPH. A Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) contact tracing support team has been enlisted as needed during this outbreak. The resort has also enlisted a CDPHE epidemiology/hygiene consult to investigate further changes that could be made that could suppress COVID activity among employees.
The resort, GCPH, and CDPHE will continue to monitor the outbreak until two incubation periods (28 days) have passed with no new outbreak-related COVID-19 positive cases.
It is important to remember that every individual’s personal and professional responsibility is to make the right decisions and hold each other to the safest standards possible. Please continue to take preventative measures to protect yourself and others.
According to the county’s website, Grand had recorded 123 new cases over a seven day period as of today. Five people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, and two residents have died with COVID. Grand County is now in Level Orange on the state’s COVID-19 dashboard.
According to Outthere Colorado, eleven outbreaks, listed below, have been confirmed by the CDPHE at seven of the state’s ski resorts.
- Beaver Creek Ski Rentals
- Breckenridge Adult Ski School
- Copper Mountain Guest Services/Copper Sports Center
- Copper Mountain Parking/Base Operations
- Keystone Mountain House Adult Ski School
- Keystone River Run Adult Ski School
- Keystone Ticket Scanning
- Monarch Ski Mountain
- Steamboat Ski Corp – Ski School
- Vail Mountain Lift Operations
- Nine other outbreaks have occurred at resort locations but are no longer considered active.
