Is El Paso County prepared for possible second spike in coronavirus cases?

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- On Monday, Governor Jared Polis' safer at home order was initiated across the state of Colorado. With fewer restrictions, health officials worry the number of COVID-19 cases could see an increase.

"Everyone's always known that's going to happen right?" said Mark Waller, El Paso County Commissioner for District 2. He's referring to a possible spike in cases even after the easing of the state's stay-at-home order.

The difference now, he says, is El Paso County is better prepared to fight the increase.

"I don't think we're going to have a circumstance where we run out of healthcare workers. They all become infected in some way and can't work. I also think we're not going to run out of hospital beds because of the preventative measures we put in place, our hospitals weren't overwhelmed in any way."

According to a 2018 report Colorado Hospital Association, there are more than 1,000 beds between UCHealth Memorial Hospital and Penrose-St. Francis.

The El Paso County Health Department is reporting 200 people of the 886 with COVID-19 are in the hospital.

Waller said officials in the Pikes Peak Region started scouting locations for a field hospital similar to the one created at the Denver Convention Center, but quickly decided they didn't need one.

Despite the confidence in El Paso County's future, Waller says county officials are prepared to revert back to a stay-at-home order, but he doesn't anticipate it, and worries what impact it would leave on the community.

"If the governor decided to shut things down again, it would have a devastating impact not only on the economy but psychologically on people."