(CNN) – A Colorado ski resort has had an outbreak of Covid-19, with more than 100 active infections among its employees.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment announced the outbreak in Winter Park Resort in January, but released the data Wednesday in its weekly outbreak summary.
There are at least 109 workers with active infections, they said.
“It has been determined that these cases cannot be traced back to transmission through interaction with visitors, but rather to social gatherings outside the workplace and at joint housing,” officials in Grand County, Colorado, said Monday in a joint statement with Winter Park. Resort.
With the Colorado ski season in full swing, other resorts have also reported Covid-19 cases. But the Winter Park outbreak is currently the largest, according to data from CDPHE.
“We’ve been working closely with public health authorities since the start of the pandemic,” said Jen Miller, the ski area’s communications manager. “We went through extensive planning and had to get state approval for our operations before we could open on December 3rd.”
Most cases can be traced back to social gatherings outside of work and housing, Miller said.
Precautions, according to Miller, include: reconfiguration of elevator brackets and elevator loading procedures, additional personnel, new signage that reminds visitors of mask requirements, dining restrictions, a reservation system to manage the visit and number of people in the resort, contactless accommodation and a state-approved testing site for their 1,700 active employees.
But some visitors have reported that mask mandates were not being enforced.
When asked about those reports, Miller said, “We have done a lot of work and will continue to develop our business as needed. I can’t speak for one person’s experience, but we appreciate feedback and will continue to make changes with the health and wellbeing of our employees, guests and community as our top priority. “
Conor Cahill, press secretary for Colorado Governor Jared Polis, said ski resorts across the state “need to plan and manage better work for peak weekends.”
While vaccinations are still being rolled out, many American workers have put Covid-19 on the line by going to work.
In October, Amazon reported that nearly 20,000 employees were infected with the virus. And a study found that 20% of grocery store employees in a Boston store had the virus.
Some companies, such as Aldi, Dollar General, Trader Joe’s, and Instacart, have started paying workers to get vaccinated in an effort to curb outbreaks.
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