San Miguel County has provided details about its first case of COVID-19.
A 54-year-old man was notified by county health officials March 19 that he tested positive for the disease, according to County Medical Officer Dr. Sharon Grundy.
He and his family will remain in home isolation for 14 days.
The married father reported recent U.S. travel, and said he had no known contact with anyone who was ill. He returned home last week and began to experience symptoms, but he has been recovering well, health officials said.
Some members of his family have experienced minor symptoms and are recovering.
Movement of the patient and his family is restricted to separate sick individuals from the health population to prevent the spread of the virus.
The patient and his family will continue to be monitored by public health officials, who are working with him to identify those he many have had contact with over the past two weeks.
Once identified, the contacts will be placed in home quarantine for 14 days per guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
San Miguel County health officials have assumed COVID-19 was in the county and on March 19 initiated mandatory shelter-in-place regulations to limit social interactions and slow the spread of the disease.
As of March 20, the county has sent 41 COVID-19 tests to labs and received 20 negative results and one positive result.
An additional 100 tests were conducted by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment in the county March 17, and those results are pending.
“We’ve moved past wondering when our first case would be confirmed and on to a model where we want to slow the rate of increase with shelter-in-place orders,” said Grace Franklin, director of the San Miguel County Department of Public Health.
Meanwhile, the county is in partnership with a private company to offer free countywide blood testing for COVID-19.
The voluntary blood test is for San Miguel County residents only and is expected to begin this week.
As of Monday, Colorado confirmed 720 cases of COVID-19. Seven people have died from the virus, according to the Colorado Department of Health and Environment.
No cases have been confirmed in Montezuma or Dolores counties.
One case of COVID-19 has been confirmed in La Plata, San Miguel and Hinsdale counties. Another case has been confirmed nearby in San Juan County, New Mexico.
jmimiaga @the-journal.com
