A Boulder County’s top health official on Friday recommended that the Longmont City Council use a “hybrid” approach to conduct its public meetings as a way to protect against rising COVID-19 numbers.
The council has been meeting in-person while still wearing masks which follows Boulder County Public Health orders. COVID cases are on the rise, prompting council members to consider going back to remote meetings as they did when the pandemic began.
On Friday, the council met with leaders of Boulder County Public Health who offered their assessment of COVID in the county. Executive Director Camille Rodriguez told council members they should consider a hybrid approach to meeting, especially if they want to protect the most vulnerable members of the public from the virus.
“If you could do a hybrid approach it would provide some protection,” Rodriguez said. She did not offer what exactly a hybrid approach would look like.
Council members may make their decision to go remote at their Nov. 30 meeting. There is no scheduled Nov. 23 council meeting.
“The council has to decide what we want to do so it’s important we make the right decision,” Mayor Joan Peck said. If the council does go back to remote meetings, “we don’t want the public to think we are closing them out. We all have to think about our best way forward.”
Lexi Nolan, deputy director of Boulder County Public Health, showed graphs that indicated the county-wide mask mandate is keeping COVID numbers relatively low, as opposed to other Colorado counties.
Nolan also pointed out that 72% of Longmont’s total population is fully vaccinated compared to Boulder’s 82%. She said the lag is likely due to a lower vaccination rate among Weld County residents living in Longmont.
She also said residents should brace for a rising tide of COVID deaths. “We have to be emotionally prepared to see a lot more deaths,” Nolan said.
