The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment announced Monday that it plans to open a coronavirus testing site in Telluride.

The health department will operate the facility in a partnership with San Miguel County.

“This testing site will serve about 100 high-risk patients who have been preselected by area health care providers as priority for being tested,” a news release said. “The site will not accept walk-up or drive-up patients.”

The health department also announced it has hired 50 nurses from the Freedom Health Care Staffing Co. who are trained in providing care in crisis situations. They will initially staff testing sites and health care facilities.

The testing station and nurses will be funded by a portion of the $3 million Disaster Emergency Fund ordered in Gov. Jared Polis’ Executive Order D 2020 003.

The state is prioritizing testing in mountain resort communities because of the documented transmission of the disease in these areas with a high number of tourists. Telluride is the first location for the efforts. Health officials will continue to conduct targeted testing in other communities to make informed decisions about our public health response.

CDPHE is also sending testing kits to other mountain counties to increase testing capacity. CDPHE requested and received additional testing kits from the CDC this week, and these are the resources being distributed statewide.

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