Pueblo Mayor Extends Curfew Until January 2021

Nathaniel Minor/CPR News
Pueblo’s Union Avenue stretches across the Arkansas River through downtown.

Pueblo Mayor Nick Gradisar has extended the city's emergency curfew in response to increasing coronavirus cases. The curfew now runs from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. until Jan. 1, 2021.

Gradisar first introduced the curfew at the end of October for two weeks. 

"I realize that this is drastic action," he said at the time, "but we need to spend these two weeks in Pueblo slowing the spread of the virus."

He later extended the curfew for another two weeks, originally expiring on Friday, Nov. 27. A city ordinance passed this week gave the mayor the ability to extend civil emergency declarations, like the city curfew, throughout the duration of the pandemic.

As of Nov. 25, the county's two-week incident rate is 2,182 cases, with a positivity rate of 16.6 percent. Randy Evetts, Pueblo's Public Health Director, stated in a press conference last week that he expects the number of confirmed, positive COVID-19 cases to double over the next 13 days.

102 people have died so far from coronavirus in the county, with over half of those deaths in November.