San Miguel County has launched a plan to test all of its residents for the coronavirus.

On Wednesday, the county ordered residents to shelter-in-place, ahead of the county-wide testing. It's the first such order in Colorado and is in effect at least until April 3. San Miguel County is located in southwestern Colorado and is home to the town of Telluride. All business activities in the county have been suspended with the exception of "minimum basic operations and essential services."

The county plans to use a private company to test residents for the coronavirus using blood samples rather than oral and nasal swabs.

This countywide testing, administered by the county health department through Unit Biomedical Inc, is the first in the nation. The plan is to test the entire county free of charge. Results of the tests are expected within two days of testing, and a retest would be conducted in 14 days to determine if the infection rate is going up or going down.

There have been reports of several seriously ill residents in San Miguel County who have been hospitalized - and this week, two cases of the coronavirus in children under the age of 4.

[DENVER POST]


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