Gov Polis announced Monday evening that he was extending the stay-at-home order to April 26 at a minimum. The order comes after many school districts in Colorado made the decision to continue online schooling for the rest of the semester.

“If there is any way to safely end it sooner, then we will,” Polis said. “And likewise if Coloradans aren’t staying at home and the numbers of the dead and dying continue to increase, then it could go longer…The sheer size of this crisis has forced us to take a series of drastic measures that we would have thought unthinkable, unimaginable just a month ago,” Polis said, later adding, “By staying home, wearing a mask when you go out, practicing proper physical distancing and proper hygiene — you are literally saving lives.”

Colorado so far has 5,172 known cases of coronavirus, with 994 hospitalizations and 150 deaths. Since the testing is still so limited, it is expected that this number represents only a fraction of the actual cases in Colorado.

Polis expects that the peak of hospitalizations will occur approximately two weeks after the case peak, which has not happened yet as cases are steadily increasing.

“If the choice is between a temporary shutdown and a catastrophic loss of life, the choice is clear,” the governor said. “These closures and restrictions will be temporary. But when you lose a life, you lose it forever.

“And in fact, the economic consequences will be even more severe and more prolonged if we completely overload our hospitals. The longer this economic paralysis lasts, the fewer jobs there will be to return to, and the more difficult the recovery will be.”

Governor Polis encouraged Coloradoans to continue to support one another while still continuing social distancing, saying “There will be a day in the not-too-distant future that we can be together once again,” he said. “When we can go to bars and restaurants, attend schools and universities, churches and temples. When grandparents can hug their grandchildren without fear of getting sick. When we can once again feel the wind against our face as we ski down our favorite ski runs and hike our favorite trails.

“But that day is not today. Nor is it tomorrow.”

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