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Aurora officials urge GEO to allow public-health access after reported tuberculosis case
Summary
City leaders said they will issue a statement asking GEO to permit Adams County Public Health into its Aurora detention facility after one confirmed tuberculosis case and community reports of additional infections; staff and the city attorney said legal options and a new local notification ordinance could apply if more cases are confirmed.
Aurora leaders said they will ask the city’s communications team to publicize a statement pressing GEO to allow local public-health officials access to its detention facility after one confirmed case of tuberculosis and reports — from facility contacts — of additional infections.
“We have, I think, 1 reported case, but it’s a highly infectious disease,” the Chair said when introducing the mayor’s update and asking council to back a citywide statement. Mayor Pro Tem told the council that, through external sources, “I heard there were 12 cases,” while noting that only one case had been formally confirmed and Adams County Public Health had been denied entry to investigate the situation.
Mayor Pro Tem said city staff and Adams County Public Health had “requested the ability to go in, identify, monitor, right, carry out their public health duties, and they were refused access to do so.” City staff and the Chair framed the proposed statement as narrow: to demand that GEO comply with public-health authorities and local notification rules rather than take a position on immigration enforcement.
Councilors pressed staff on whether the city’s newly effective notification ordinance (effective July 21) could impose penalties if additional cases are identified. The city attorney said enforcement would depend on timing: because GEO acknowledged a case before the ordinance took effect, penalties would most directly apply to subsequent cases; “If there’s new ones, yes,” the attorney said when asked about enforcement.
Council endorsed releasing the statement and directed communications staff to put it out on behalf of the city. Officials also said Adams County and the state might pursue legal remedies if GEO continues to refuse public-health access; staff will coordinate with county public-health officials on next steps.
Next steps: the city will issue the statement with council support and follow up with Adams County Public Health on investigatory access and any legal remedies if other cases are confirmed.
