'We're In A Really Good Place': CO Announces New Recovery Roadmap

COLORADO — A new pandemic recovery roadmap was announced Friday for Colorado as the state enters its next phase in the battle against COVID-19.

"We're in a really good place as we sit here today," said Jill Ryan, executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Around 81 percent of eligible Coloradans are vaccinated with at least one dose, and around 90 percent are immune to the omicron variant, Ryan said.

Coloradans who are fully vaccinated should "feel comfortable living life as normal," public health officials said.

"The emergency phase of the pandemic is over," Polis said. "You do not need to feel guilty returning to your normal lives."

Getting vaccinated also prevents many of the long-term health impacts of COVID-19, health officials said.

Dubbed “Colorado’s Next Chapter: Our Roadmap to Moving Forward,” the new plan includes:

1. Establishing hospital readiness standards, surge planning and "normalizing COVID patient care in traditional medical settings," officials said.
2. Ensuring public health readiness and surge capacity: "Building on lessons learned so the public health and emergency management fields can expand and contract for disease control and other emergency needs," the roadmap overview read.
3. Investing in healthcare workforce stabilization and expansion: Stabilizing the current workforce and building and maintaining a sustainable health care workforce for the future, the state said.
4. Engaging the federal government in national endemic response, pandemic readiness and needed reforms: "Striving for a national plan for pandemic readiness and response, and investing in the public health system, including an updated and interoperable national surveillance system, and flexible, non-categorical funding to allow flexibility and increase the public health workforce," the state said.

“This roadmap demonstrates that as we transition from the pandemic response into a new chapter where we can use more routine disease control tactics, we will not only be ready for if and when something changes, but we will build stronger and more resilient systems for the future,“ said Scott Bookman, COVID-19 incident commander with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

“Vaccinated Coloradans can now enjoy more freedom from this virus, but as Coloradans we should be nimble and flexible. I ask all Coloradans to continue to be our partners in this as we move Colorado forward.”