Each week, Ouray County Public Health Director Tanner Kingery picks up the phone and calls the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to check on the status of Ouray County’s request for expanded pool capacity.

And each week, he gets same response: No answer yet.

It’s been exactly one month since the county applied for a variance from state public health orders — which permit 50 people or 50 percent capacity at pools, whichever is less — to allow 200 people or 75 percent c...