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CANON CITY – Fremont County will soon move to level the orange-colored COVID restrictions as cases continue to rise, leaving those in the area’s robust tourism industry preparing for the effects.
The train is big, but for Mark Greksa, co-owner of the Royal Gorge Railroad, his business is small
“My late wife, Leah, and I – we really worked hard to build it,” said Greksa.
For over two decades, his family has been on a mission to grow the railroad.
“In May 1999, we ran our first train through the Royal Gorge, with five wagons and a refrigerator,” Greksa said. “We took the domed cars we discovered built in the 1950s from Alaska.”
It went full steam ahead.
“We are probably – I guess – the second largest employer in Fremont County,” he said.
But this year something got in the way.
“We normally carry 155,000 people through the royal gorge,” Greksa said. “But to see it suddenly ends… to see what happens when a pandemic strikes and you say… okay. We could lose our business. “
The railway was closed from March to May. Since then, traffic has been fair, even with reduced capacity.
“From March; 80,000 people, “he said.
Of these 80,000 passengers, not a single covid case reported. But this week Greksa got a message he hoped he would never get.
“We were informed by the Fremont County Department of Health that we had three test positive employees in November,” he said.
Cases of COVID have increased rapidly in Fremont County.
“We’ve only had … huge increases,” said Fremont County Director of Public Health Kayla MArler. “We are seeing 80 to 100 confirmed positive cases per day.”
“It’s something we don’t take lightly,” Greksa said.
Fortunately for Greksa, the cases at the railroad have been isolated.
but as restrictions continue to tighten on the community at large, it will take a team effort to keep businesses like yours on track.
“If that changes and Fremont County enters the red category, it will change things for everyone,” he said.
These new orange-level restrictions will take effect on Friday morning in Fremont County.
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