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Colorado counties try different ways to tell visitors the same thing: please stay away

Eagle County says all its county, Forest Service and BLM lands are limited to only local residents

Jason Blevins, Colorado Sun
A sign over state highway 135 just outside of Gunnison warns residents and visitors of COVID-19. (Dean Krakel, Special to The Colorado Sun)
Screen Shot 2020-04-21 at 8.28.54 AM

The contagion sweeping through Colorado spiked first in mountain communities crowded with recreating tourists. And those communities are now alternately asking, pleading and demanding that visitors — the lifeblood of mountain economies — stay away. 

As increasingly antsy Coloradans lumber into their second month of coronavirus-related quarantine, the municipal approaches urging visitors to follow statewide state-at-home guidelines vary among communities. Even as the state prepares to roll back a stay-at-home order on Sunday, many counties are adding teeth to the largely unenforced state order limiting travel, promising fines for out-of-towners who wander into their remote corners. 

Gunnison County has pretty much sealed itself off with orders that promise $5,000 tickets for order-shirking visitors, including second homeowners. Summit County, where skiers have been flocking to Loveland Pass, is taking a less punitive position with messaging and patrols urging visitors to practice social distancing and follow rules designed to limit the spread of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.



Summit County still wants to limit visitors though. The county last week amended its public health order, extending the closure of all hotels and short-term lodging facilities through May 31. 

The San Juan County sheriff has closed federal land to all except locals. Eagle County also says all its county, Forest Service and BLM lands are limited to only local residents.

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