Holiday Curfew Announced for El Paso County

It had been discussed that it was most likely going to happen and yesterday it became official. Judge Ricardo Samaniego announced on Wednesday that there would be a curfew for El Paso County during the holiday season. The curfew is:

• December 23rd to 26th, 10pm to 5am
• December 30th to January 4th, 10pm to 5am

The curfew is primarily targeting social gatherings. If you are heading to work, the store, or seeking medical care, the curfew doesn't apply. This announcement comes as the county just allowed restaurants to stay open until 10pm. Restaurants had been forced to close inside dining areas at 9pm. For more info on that you can check out Lisa's article by CLICKING HERE.

Judge Samaniego wanted to stress the point that "We're not out of the woods yet." El Paso had seen spikes in COVID cases after holidays over the summer, but that didn't happen over Thanksgiving and Judge Samaniego believes the curfew that was imposed over the Thanksgiving weekend was the reason for that. When talking about the curfew enforcement plans, Samaniego said:

We're going to be extremely focused on bad actors.

For my family, I know we're planning on getting together with immediate family, but we're also planning on getting tested first. There are a lot of places around the city you can go get tested for free and they are being returned at a fast rate. There are come areas you can get tested in the morning and get the results that night.