Mesa County, Colo. A Striking Disconnect on the Virus: Economic Pain With Little Illness

Mesa County, Colo.

‘Practically Zero Disease’

Population	Cases	Deaths	Unemployment
154,210	55	0	12.6%

Colorado counties where coronavirus cases are above or below the national average, compared with how much unemployment has increased in those places:

+20

percentage points

Fewer infections

More infections

Higher

unemployment

increase

National

average

Circles are sized by each

county’s population

Eagle

Grand

+15

Denver

+10

Jefferson

Dolores

Larimer

Mesa

Logan

+ 5

0

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

Percentiles of the national average

Note: Data are the number of confirmed and probable coronavirus cases per capita in relation to the national average and the change from February to April of county unemployment rates. April figures, the most recent month for which county-level data is available, initial estimates. Case counts are through Wednesday and may be lower than actual infection rates because of incomplete testing.·Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics (unemployment); Census Bureau (population); New York Times reporting of data based on reports by states and counties (coronavirus cases).

Far from Denver, pushed up against the Utah border, Mesa County is known for its stunning flat-topped mountains and abundant outdoor activities. Residents are proud of their record so far on the coronavirus — just 55 known cases, and nearly all have already recovered — but some worry about the price the county has paid.

The largest country music festival in Colorado has been canceled. So has the Junior College Baseball World Series. Despite getting state permission to open some businesses ahead of the rest of Colorado, many in the county are struggling — and patience is thinning.

“Obviously we don’t want to let it get away from us, we don’t want to ruin a good thing, but did it really have to be this level of shutdown?” said Doug Simons, a third-generation owner of Enstrom Candies, which has five retail stores that have remained open as essential businesses.

“There was a real reluctance from our leaders to let things open back up, even though we had practically zero disease in our community,” he said. “I thought: ‘What the heck is going on? We don’t have any cases here and we’re being told to shut down like it’s New York City.’”

Weekends that used to draw thousands and cause hotels to sell out have passed by quietly. Graduation last month from Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, the county’s biggest city, was held online.

“It feels a little bit strange here because the weather is nice and everyone can still go out and hike and mountain bike and do all of the naturally socially distanced activities that we love to enjoy,” said Amanda Michelsen, director of sales at the Courtyard and Residence Inn, which had furloughed about three-quarters of its 80-person staff.

Wakeboarding at the Imondi Wake Zone in Fruita, Colo.Photographs by Benjamin Rasmussen for The New York Times

Doug and Jamee Simons, owners of Enstrom Candies.

A sparsely populated downtown Grand Junction.

Empty porta-potties next to the field where the Country Jam was to be held.

The chef Josh Niernberg at his restaurant Bin707 Foodbar.

“We’ll be able to stay open for now,” Mr. Niernberg said of Bin 707, but he was cautious about whether it was sustainable.

Mesa County has suffered before. When the Great Recession struck a decade ago, the region was overly dependent on oil and gas extraction. Recovery was slow, but local groups worked to diversify the economy, in part by focusing on tourism. The efforts contributed to “three really good years of growth,” said Robin Brown, executive director of the Grand Junction Economic Partnership.

Josh Niernberg’s restaurant, Bin 707 Foodbar, was among the successes. In February, he was a semifinalist for a James Beard award. But recently, he has been able to keep paying his employees only by borrowing through the federal Paycheck Protection Program and by shifting some of them to a second restaurant he owns.

“We’ll be able to stay open for now, but we don’t have the customer base we foresee at this time of year and I don’t see it coming any time soon,” he said.

Angela Padalecki, executive director of the Grand Junction Regional Airport, equates the sadness and anger among residents with stages of grief.

“We’re grieving the loss of those good times,” she said.